Souvenir
by Ryousake
Summary: Why is Gwendal brought to Earth with Yuuri? This is the love story between two complete opposites. Gwendal is stoic and Yuuri is outgoing and loud. I AM CONTINUING!
1. Chapter 1

This is the major Gwendal/Yuuri epic I've been talking about in my lemons. This is how their relationship started and grew into something more. I regret to say that I am no even close to finishing this, but I will update once a week. The first 10 or so chapters are really chapter 1 but chapter one is 64 pages long. But I'm working on it diligently  Now keep in mind that I'm working on other fics too, but this one is of high priority.

Soundtrack for Ch. 1 – Chiisana Inori – Fruits Basket OST

So enjoy.

Souvenir

Since becoming the Maou, Yuuri has had to deal with dimensional travel via water in odd forms: puddles, baths, rivers, and the initial toilet. And over the past three years, Yuuri has become accustom to the unique way of travel. In fact, it has gotten to where he is sent a message that he's going to the other world. Unfortunately for Yuuri, the Original King has a sense of humor and likes to use Yuuri as the punch-line.

Somehow as Gwendal and Yuuri were walking in the courtyard, discussing foreign affairs, the Heavens open up and start to weep. That would have been okay except for Dorcas is barreling towards them at top speed, shouting something about portals and Gwendal, when he slips. Seeing they can't move out of the way in enough time, Gwendal picks up the now taller, older Yuuri to keep him from being injured by the human bowling ball. Gwendal twists his body to where he will take most of the impact, but (un)fortunately, there was none.

"NO WAY!" Yuuri shouts as they swirl around and around in the endless pit of water. Gwendal clings to Yuuri as he doesn't know what's going on.

"Heika, what's happening!"

"WHAT? HOW?" Yuuri looks surprised as he realizes Gwendal is clinging to him for dear life. Next thing they know, they are laying in Yuuri's backyard, underneath the sprinkler system.

"Holy crap!"

"We don't say things like that in front of our mother, Yuuri", says a voice somewhere above Yuuri's head.

"Shori!" Yuuri tries to jump to his feet until he realizes there's a heavy weight over him. Gwendal groans as he slowly pulls himself off of Yuuri.

"Gwendal!" Said man snaps his head up to look at Yuuri with an intense glare that could melt rocks for screaming in his ear.

"Heika, try not to yell too much." Suddenly a car horn sounds and catches Gwendal's attention; reaching for his sword he jumps to his feet, ready for action...almost.

As quick as he was able to get up to his feet, his soaked clothes almost pull him down. Obviously, he wasn't expecting the extra weight.

"Hi Yuu-chan!" Jennifer calls from the porch. "Who's your friend?" Jennifer marches directly into Gwendal's face, glaring at him with conviction. Looking through long, wet bangs, Gwendal eyes widen in shock.

"Hehe, Mom this is Gwendal." Yuuri says standing up as he scratches the back of his neck nervously.

Jennifer narrows her eyes in a scowl at the charcoal-haired man. Suddenly her scowl turns into a bright smile and she throws her arms around the man, catching everyone off guard. "Welcome Gwendal!" Yuuri and his brother are probably just as surprised at the sudden welcoming gesture. Gwendal is frozen in his spot, much like when Anissina finds him.

"MOM! You can't just hug people randomly. You don't even know him!" Yuuri stomps foot on the ground, a little out of anger but mostly out of embarrassment. Jennifer pulls away from the tall man with a sparkle in her eye. Only then did Gwendal almost scream.

Jennifer had hugged the wet man with a white shirt on and all three men could see she is wearing a blue bra. Shori grabs her shoulders and whips her around so she isn't facing any of them. Gwendal turns on his heel to hide his blush from the family, only to face an equally flush Yuuri. "I'm so embarrassed. I am SO sorry. My mom can be absent-minded sometimes and clearly this is one of those times."

At that moment, Jennifer screams. Gwendal and Yuuri snap their attention to the now hysterical woman only to be snapped back at. "DON'T LOOK!"

"SORRY!" Yuuri turns Gwendal and himself around quickly. Letting out an exasperated sigh, Yuuri looks at Gwendal with a pleading face that screams 'Help me'. Gwendal looks helplessly at the young Maou. Yuuri looks over his shoulder to see if his brother and mother were still there; finding them alone in the backyard, Yuuri finally relaxes.

"Oi, what a troublesome family." He plops down onto the ground, pulling his knees up to his chest. "I mean, couldn't have someone told me earlier that you were going to be pulled in with me and that I would be going into the portal at the tiniest drop of water. And really, I get dropped off in my backyard at that. Ulrike could have at least put me down on something softer or something." With a slight huff, Yuuri stands up. Looking down at his sopping wet clothes, he cringes to himself. Then, he looks Gwendal up and down, seeing that he too is also in the same shape as the Maou.

Gwendal stands silently with his normal scowl on his face. Folding his arms across his chest he levels an intense glare at Yuuri. "What do we do now Heika?"

"Um...I think we need to get into dry clothes before we catch a cold. You can use the shower first while I find some of my dad's clothes for you to where. Also call me Yuuri; I'm not a king in my world."

Kicking off his shoes at the door, Yuuri motions Gwendal to follow, the latter following suit by kicking his boots off at the door. Yuuri guides Gwendal through the kitchen, in which the refrigerator received a strange look from the older man. From the kitchen is the dining room; Gwendal simply regards it as tiny. The living room on the other hand disturbs Gwendal bad enough that his scowl breaks into a worried frown.

"What's wrong?"

Gwendal points at the TV on the wall. "What's that?" he says in an ominous, deep tone.

"The TV? It's a device we use to watch moving pictures as entertainment. Once we're all dried off and clean, I'll show it to you. Ok?"

Gwendal nods with a renewed scowl on his face. Unexpectedly, the doorbell rings. Gwendal grabs the hilt of his sword, ready to be attacked at any moment.

"Calm down, Gwendal. It's just the doorbell. Someone's here." Yuuri rolls his eyes at the skittish man as he approaches the door, which, not surprising, he earns an irritated eyebrow twitch. The taller man releases his hand from the hilt.

Yuuri opens the door to find Murata standing there waving at them. "Murata! How's it going?"

"Everything's fine. Did Gwendal make it safely with you?" Yuuri's mouth drops in surprise.

"You knew he was coming with me? And where was the warning that I was coming back?"

"Dorcas was told to tell you three days ago, but I guess he forgot."

"Actually Heika, um Yuuri, he was running up to us yelling something about me and portals, which I'm going to assume is the message he was told to give. Unfortunately, we had already started leaving and I couldn't understand what he was saying." Gwendal says tugging at the belt of his jacket.

Yuuri stares at Gwendal, narrowing his eyes for a moment. "So that's why he looked like a bat out of hell running at us." Shrugging, he continues. "In any case, we got the message since we're both here."

"Do you know why Gwendal was called here?" Murata pushes his glasses up on his nose.

"No."

"Hmmm. That's odd. I don't know why he's here either. But I'm sure if you try different things, the next time you get flushed, you'll know you did something right."

"Do you have any tips as to what I can do?"

Gwendal shifts his weight impatiently as the two younger men discuss the things Yuuri could do while he's on earth with Gwendal.

"You should show him around the city, or show him how the political system works or something that could enhance the result of his duties. I don't know, just try something."

"Ok. Well...I guess I'll talk to you later. We've got to get cleaned up because, as you can see, we are still wet from the journey."

"Right. You may not be able to get a hold of me for a while, I'm going back to talk to the Original King about some stuff. But when you're ready to come back, I'll be waiting. See you later. Bye Gwendal!" Murata waves as he walks away from the house. Yuuri closes the door and turns and faces Gwendal.

"Let's go." Walking up the stairs and down the hall, they reach Yuuri's room. Gwendal looks around at the average size bedroom.

"Ahh, it's good to be home. Now I get to sleep in my bed again." Yuuri sighs.

"It's small."

"Well, this isn't a castle. Let me show you to the bathroom."

Yuuri leads the taller man from his room to the bathroom. "This is the bathroom. The toilet is through that door and the shower is right here. We don't have a tub in this bathroom. The towels are under the sink. Just put your wet clothes in the basket and I'll put some dry ones on the counter. Got it?"

"Yes, Yuuri."

"Good. I'll let you get started and I'll be right back." Yuuri slips out the door and leaves Gwendal to his own.

He first starts by removing his belt and jacket then his undershirt, pants, and trouser socks. He looks at the small bathroom through the reflection of the mirror. With a shake of his head of disbelief, he pulls off his very skimpy g-string. He looks at the contents of the counter. Never before has he seen a toothbrush, toothpaste, or an electric razor. Nor has he seen so many vials of products called shampoo or conditioner. Picking up one vial, he inspects it trying to find the cork so he can open it. Upon finding no cork, he begins to push randomly on the top of the vial, perhaps it is magic. Suddenly there is a soft knock on the door, startling him so much he drops the bottle.

"Gwendal, are you alright in there? I'm coming in." With a panic, Gwendal tries to remember where the towels are, but can't seem to remember. As he hears to door open, he jumps into the toilet room.

"Where did you go?" Yuuri says peeking around the door to make sure his companion is decent.

"Yuuri."

"You're in the toilet?"

"I can't remember where the towels are." Gwendal deadpans.

"They're underneath the sink." Yuuri tilts his head to the left in wonderment. "Are you naked?"

Silence.

"Yes, could you hand me a towel, please?" The charcoal-haired man finally says, sounding a bit frustrated.

"Sure." Chuckling to himself, Yuuri reaches underneath the sink and pulls out a towel; opening the door slightly, Gwendal holds out his hand to get the towel. Yuuri hands him the towel and the hand disappears. A few moments later, Gwendal walks out of the toilet room with the towel wrapped around his waist, rather low in his hips.

Yuuri, who is leaning against the door, looks up to find a half-naked Gwendal looking at him. Yuuri's eyes roam across the tan, muscular chest, over the rippling abs, and going past the navel to see the V of every woman's dream. Gwendal clears his throat as he grows uncomfortable with the intense staring the young king is doing.

Snapping out of his daze, Yuuri flushes and stammers a weak apology until Gwendal holds up his hand to silence him.

"So do you know how to turn on the shower?" Yuuri says with a distraught look on his face. The embarrassments of the day are beginning to pile onto him.

Gwendal silently shakes his head no. From downstairs, the two men can hear Jennifer yelling, "Lunch will be ready in twenty minutes!"

"That's not much time to get both of us showered and dried. Let me get your shower going and then I'll run downstairs and take mine."

"Pardon me, but do you have anything I can wash my hair with?"

"Um, let's see. There was a bottle sitting right...there it is. I guess it fell on the floor." Yuuri picks up the bottle Gwendal had dropped.

"That's..."

"Shampoo. It'll make your hair soft and silky", Yuuri imitates a shampoo commercial.

"Oh." Gwendal grabs the bottle out of the black-haired man's hands. "How do you open it?"

"You press this button and the other side will lift and you squeeze, like so, to get the shampoo out", the Maou demonstrates to Gwendal.

Gwendal suddenly turns rigid when he feels the Maou's hands covering his while the demonstration proceeds. His hands are soft with light calluses on the palms. The skin is warm to the touch, but they make the tall man shiver.

"Aw, Gwendal, are you cold?" Yuuri looks up at Gwendal to find the man slightly flush. "I mean, you're quite naked right now. You should go ahead and get into the shower to warm up. Plus lunch is soon." Yuuri walks to the shower and turns it on, adjusting the temperature to something quite warm. Gwendal watches from behind him, watching how he turns the knob.

"If the temperature is too hot, just turn the knob to the right until it isn't." Yuuri gives him a bright smile and exits the bathroom.

Gwendal sticks a hand under the spray of water, testing its temperature. Deeming it suitable, he pulls off his towel, placing it on the counter and steps into the shower. As he washes himself, he begins to think about why he would be here in this different world, Yuuri's world. Why not Conrad or Gunter? Well, Gunter probably wouldn't last a day without having a panic attack worrying about Heika. But Conrad and Yuuri are pretty close. Maybe there is something he's supposed to get out of this trip.

Gwendal releases his hair from the ever-present tie and lets it cascade down his back. Picking up the shampoo, he squeezes some into his hand, eyeing the bottle. "How random..." He proceeds to wash his hair and rinse it. By the time he's done with his shower, Yuuri bangs on the door, once again startling the man.

"Gwendal are you done? Lunch is just about ready." Yuuri shouts through the door.

"Patience, Heika." Gwendal hisses back in annoyance. He never used to be this skittish, but he also wasn't in another world.

"Alright, just come downstairs when you're done."

The long-haired man hears the footsteps growing farther from the door. Turning the knob to the shower, he manages to turn it off without any issues. He towel-dries himself and wraps his long hair in another.

Picking up the first item of clothing, he finds it to be a pair of boxers. Seeing as the underwear in this world isn't much different from those of his world, he relaxes and slips them on. 'Hmmm...Comfortable. This is much better than the g-string.' Next he picks up a pair of pants; they're rough in texture, but strangely comfortable feeling. After he pulls on the denim jeans he slips on the light green and white button-up shirt and looks at himself in the mirror. It feels uncharacteristic to him to not have the trademark green jacket on. Upon closer inspection of his new look, he realizes these pants have belt loops, so he laces his belt into the jeans. Satisfied with how he looks, he leaves the bathroom and joins Yuuri downstairs.

Gwendal is taken aback by the way Yuuri is dressed. In the three years he has known him, he has never seen Yuuri in more than his black school uniform or his blue pajamas. Today, he looks relaxed and even more carefree in knee-length green camouflage cargo shorts, a black long-sleeve tee, and black skateboarding shoes.

As soon as Yuuri sees that Gwendal in the outfit he picked out for him, his eyes light up. "You look good, Gwendal. I hope nothing was too tight; my dad and brother aren't as muscular as you. But that's because they're lazy. My dad plays golf and works and Shori just parties and goes to class..."

"YUURI! That's not true. I also study in my room." Shori shouts from the dining room. Yuuri laughs and motions for Gwendal to sit in the chair he's standing behind.

"Everything fits well, Yuuri."

"Oi, we'll have to get your hair dried after we eat, ok?"

Gwendal cocks his head slightly, looking at the Maou awkwardly.

"What?"

"I can't understand your family."

"Oh I forgot. I'm sorry. I'm not sure how to fix it though. Maybe I can pull the same trick that Adelbert did to me when I first came into your world." Yuuri walks up behind the chair Gwendal is now moving to sit in. "This may hurt." Yuuri closes his hands on each side of Gwendal's head and begins concentrating. After a few moments, he releases his head.

"Shiori, come ask Gwendal a question."

"Hang on, hang on. I'm coming, brat."

"I'm not at brat. Man, I feel like I'm at the castle being called wimp by Wolfram." Gwendal actually smirks at Yuuri.

The Maou leaves Gwendal's side as he finishes setting the table for lunch. Shori walks into the dining room holding a plateful of sandwiches followed by Jennifer who's carrying a couple of bowls of soup; Gwendal stands up politely as she enters the room. Yuuri disappears into the kitchen and comes back in with a pitcher of Kool-Aid.

"Did you ask him something yet?"

"Why? If I have a question to ask, I'll ask it. But clearly I have nothing to ask so I won't ask anything."

"Did you understand him Gwendal?" Yuuri whispers at Gwendal.

"Yes, thank you."

"Yay! It worked."

"What worked cute Yuu-chan?" Jennifer sits down in her seat, likewise Shori beside her and Yuuri beside Gwendal.

"Nothing, mom." Jennifer raises a skeptical eyebrow at Yuuri.

"Humph. Is that everything for lunch?"

"Yes."

"Alright, Itadakimasu!"

All voices chime except Gwendal's, "Itadakimasu!" Everyone begins putting sandwiches on their plates. Gwendal watches as everyone gets their food and begins eating.

"What's wrong Gwendal? Get some food."

"What is it we're eating?" Gwendal points at the sandwiches.

"Oh, this is a tuna sandwich and this", Yuuri points at the soup, "is egg-drop soup."

"Tuna?"

"It's a fish. It can be prepared several different ways, this sandwich being one of the ways."

"Oh." Gwendal picks up a sandwich and takes a bite out of it. Yuuri watches for a reaction. Feeling he's being stared at, Gwendal looks over to the young Maou, glaring daggers at him.

Not deterred by the glare, Yuuri continues to stare until the taller man finishes chewing. "So do you like it?"

Sighing in guilty resign, Gwendal speaks. "Its fine, Hei...Yuuri."

"Good. I know this isn't what you're used to eating." Yuuri looks disappointedly down at his plates.

Gwendal feeling a slight tug in his heart for hurting the Maou's feelings he lays a hand on his shoulder. "This is good, a little spicier than what I would normally eat."

"Spicier?" Yuuri takes a bite of his own sandwich and chews a couple of times. Suddenly he starts panting and waving his mouth; reaching for his class of Kool-Aid, he downs the drink in two gulps.


	2. Chapter 2

Thanks to all those who reviewed. I wasn't going to post this until a week after I posted the first chapter but I was so happy, I couldn't stop myself. Anyways, here's the new chapter!

Souvenir – Chapter 2

"You added wasabi to the tuna!" He looks at his mother incredulously.

"Is there something wrong with that Yuu-chan?" Jennifer asks with slight concern on her face.

"You wimp." Shori snickers under his breath.

"AHHH! It burns the flesh!" Yuuri gasps as his brother laughs at him. Gwendal just stares at the twitching man beside him as he calmly takes a sip of his Kool-Aid. It's disconcertingly like watching Gunter freak out when he can't find Yuuri.

"Yuuri." Gwendal asks very sternly, his scowl in place.

"Yes." Yuuri wheezes.

"Will they understand me if I talk to them?"

The shorter man frantically nods as he starts turning a funny shade of blue which vaguely resembles periwinkle.

"Mrs. Shibuya, this is delicious food." Gwendal says disregarding the purple man beside him.

"Why, thank you Gwendal. Yuuri, your friend is very polite. I already like him." Jennifer looks over to her youngest son. "Shori, please get your brother some milk."

Gwendal looks over at Yuuri once again. The eighteen year-old is barely breathing as his throat has swollen up. Shori comes back to the table with a glass of milk and Yuuri pours it down his throat. After a few minutes, his breathing is turning back to normal and he is back to his normal color.

"You alright there little buddy?" Shori teases.

"What are all of you doing watching me choke to death?"

"Saa, you overact to little things."

"I WAS DYING!"

"Well, that's unfortunate."

"Why, you..."

"You know, you're very un-cute when you're mad."

Yuuri looks as if he's going to burst from anger, but Shori finally grants him a reprieve when he continues eating. Gwendal looks up at Jennifer to see her bright smile; the antics of her sons always amuse her.

Yuuri, in a huff, gets up from the table holding his plate and goes into the kitchen.

"So Gwendal, how long are you going to be in town?" Jennifer asks politely, wiping a smudge of food from the corner of her mouth.

"I'm not sure."

"You're a Mazoku, right? Do you have bat-like wings? When Shori and Yuuri were born, I was a bit disappointed that they didn't have any wings. My husband doesn't have any wings either."

Gwendal looks surprised by the questions being fired rapidly at him. "Yes, I'm a Mazoku, but I don't have wings. Mazokus are very similar to humans."

"Aw, that's what my husband said." Jennifer pouts around her sandwich.

"Please excuse my mom; she has an obsession with fantasy stuff." Shiori says as he sips his drink. At that moment, Yuuri walks back into the dining room with a fresh tuna sandwich, one without wasabi.

"Yuu-chan, what are you and Gwendal going to do today?" Jennifer asks, sipping her drink.

Yuuri freezes for a moment. "I don't know. I guess we'll figure that out after lunch. By the way, could you help me blow-dry Gwendal's hair after we eat? I don't usually do mine but he needs his done. Please?"

"Blow-dry?" Gwendal asks.

"Yeah, I'll show you after this. So will you mom?"

"Sure Yuu-chan, I don't see why not." Jennifer smiles pleasantly at Gwendal, who simply nods, wondering what it is to blow-dry.

Shori takes the last bite of his sandwich and begins to excuse himself from the table.

"Where are you going honey?" Jennifer turns her attention to the eldest son.

"I'm going back to my place to rest before I start packing. Thanks for lunch though."

"Where are you going?" Yuuri perks up at the news of his brother's impending departure.

"I'm going to Boston for a couple of weeks on business."

"Really? I have a friend who went to Boston a few years ago." Yuuri discreetly glances at Gwendal before turning his attention back to his brother. "Are you going to a Red Sox game? If you are, bring me a souvenir. They're my favorite baseball team."

"Why should I bring, a brat like you, a souvenir?" Shori smirks.

"Aw, come on. I'm your little brother; you should bring me a present for being undeniably cute." Yuuri bats large, wobbly puppy dog eyes.

Shori's smirk falters as he begins to cave into the extreme cuteness. "Uh, well...maybe." He gets up from the table and cleans off his spot.

"Thanks Shori!" Yuuri wipes his hands on his napkins and arises from the table.

"I only said maybe. Anyways, I'm gone. See you later." Shori leaves waving to an inattentive crowd.

"Oh Yuu-chan, I forgot to tell you that your friend Murata Ken called while you were in the shower."

"Did he? What did he want?"

"He said that you have a practice at 4 today and you'd better be there even though you have a guest."

"But he just told me that he was going to talk the orig-, eh, he said he was going out of town today."

"I don't know, maybe he changed his plans, but you do have practice. Are you going to go with Yuuri to his practice, Gwendal?" Jennifer asks wiping her own hands on her napkin.

Gwendal first looks at Jennifer, as she is expecting an answer from him, to Yuuri, asking him for permission.

"Yeah, Gwendal. You should come. You haven't seen me in action yet."

"Great! I'll get your water bottle filled and ready your practice uniform. Last time you wore it, you got it completely filthy. It took at least 4 washes and a new bottle of bleach to get the stains out. I want you to be more careful of what you're doing out there or I'll make you get another part-time job like the one a few summers ago. Bleach isn't cheap, you know." Yuuri nods his head repeatedly, having heard this lecture before.

Yuuri looks over to Gwendal's plate. "Are you finished eating?" The tall man nods, not meeting the eyes of his king. "So it's okay if I take your plate?" Gwendal nods again, this time looking up to stare into Yuuri's pitch black eyes.

Through the three years that he has known Yuuri, he has never looked directly into the younger man's eyes until that moment at the lunch table. He shudders as a strange feeling runs down his spine; there's something...about those eyes.

"What? Do I have something on my face?"

"Sir?"

"Well you're staring at me. Do I have some crumbs on my cheek or something?" Yuuri picks up the long-haired man's plate, combining it with his own.

Gwendal quickly averts his eyes to the now interesting spot on the wall. "Please excuse my mistake, Yuuri. There's nothing flawing your face."

"It's ok; nothing to worry about, right?" Gwendal nods.

"You must be shy because you don't talk much, do you Gwendal?" Jennifer asks as she rests her chin on her hands. Yuuri takes her plate, also, to the kitchen.

"I just don't have much to say." Gwendal quietly states.

"Oh." Jennifer seems just a little put out by his answer.

It's very strange for Gwendal to be having the conversation. Back in New Makoku, nobody ever questioned him about his personality; they just assumed he was grumpy or scary. He feels a sudden warmth spread throughout his chest from knowing someone actually cares. It's the same feeling he gets when Yuuri transforms into his alternate self at an injustice towards children or women. Now he sees where he gets his compassion from.

Three years ago, Gwendal wouldn't have believed that Yuuri's compassion would help run a country and keep war at bay, but seeing how New Makoku is thriving and how peaceful the world is, one can't help but to believe in the compassionate and passionate king.

"Yuuri, you can go ahead and take Gwendal upstairs in your room and then I'll show you how to blow-dry hair after I clean up the kitchen. Just get my blow-dryer and my brush out of my bathroom. I'll be up there in about ten-minutes."

"Oi, saved from doing the dishes", Yuuri sighs in relief as he walks back into the dining room. "Come with me Gwendal."

Gwendal stands, placing his napkin on the table, and bows to Jennifer. "Thank you for a wonderful meal, Mrs. Shibuya." Jennifer blushes as the handsome gentleman bows to her in deep respect.

"Y-you're welcome", she stammers. She looks at Yuuri as if begging him to take Gwendal away so she doesn't do anything embarrassing to herself or Yuuri.

"Thanks for lunch, Mom." The young king leads his tall advisor to his bedroom, sitting him on the bed.

"What is this blow-drying that you're going to do to me?" Gwendal scowls, folding his arms across his chest in stubbornness. He just knows he's going to not like whatever blow-drying is.

"Let me show you what I'm talking about. I could tell you but it might sound like one of Anissina's demon inventions." Gwendal rolls his eyes at the absurd thought.

"Perhaps you're right Heika." Gwendal shudders at the memories of Anissina chasing him down so he could test out her newest failure of an invention.

Yuuri chuckles lightly at the look on the other man's face; it's not everyday he gets to see Gwendal's facial expression change to one of utter horror. Leaving the tall man on the bed, he goes to his parent's bathroom and grabs the blow-dryer and brush his mother lent him. When he gets back to his room, Gwendal looks at the blow-dryer as if it were a snake with an afro-wig on it.

"What's that?"

Holding up the blow-dryer, Yuuri begins explaining. "This is a blow-dryer. It pushes air rapidly out to basically create enough wind to dry your hair in a short amount of time than if you let it air dry." Yuuri plugs it into the wall and turns it on. Aiming it in the direction of Gwendal's face, he allows the man to see what it actually does.

Gwendal looks shocked at the air-blowing machine. "How...amazing this is. Is it magic?"

"Nope. It's electricity. It's how things are generally powered in this world."

"How interesting." Gwendal gruffly states.

Jennifer comes waltzing into the room holding a spray bottle of sorts. "Yuuri, your practice clothes will be ready in about an hour."

"Thanks." Yuuri sits beside Gwendal on the bed, his back against his headboard.

"Are you ready to get your hair dried?" she addresses Gwendal.

"I believe so."

Jennifer looks around the room with her hands on her hips. "Good. May I have the brush, Yuuri?"

"Oh, sorry." Yuuri hands her the brush.

Removing the towel from his head, Gwendal's hair tumbles limply and wet onto his back and shoulders. Turning on the blow-dryer, Jennifer begins brushing and blow-drying. Yuuri watches intensely as Gwendal's hair slowly becomes dry and smooth. Through with one section of hair, Jennifer turns off the blow dryer and proudly inspects her work.

"You have such wonderful hair. I wish I could put it up in little bows and clips!" Yuuri visibly pales at the thought of his mother violating Gwendal's hair in such a manner. But after thinking about it for a moment, he decided it would be kind of funny, especially from a distance. Just in case Gwendal decides to run him thru with his sword.

"Mom, please could you just continue? Please?" Yuuri pleads.

"All right Yuu-chan." Looking down at her watch, she checks the time; she then continues with the next section of Gwendal's hair. Suddenly, flipping off the blow-dryer, she lets out a yelp, scaring Yuuri off the bed.

"What? What?" He begs from his position of the floor which is upside down against the bed.

"I was supposed to pick up your father about ten minutes ago at the train station!"

"If you leave now, I'm sure he'll still be there. Just...call him on his cell phone and let him know you're on your way." Yuuri rights himself to where he's sitting against the bed, right-side up.

"Ok." She starts to run out of the room, but she stops in her tracks at a sudden realization. "Yuuri, will you be able to finish Gwendal's hair without me?"

Yuuri thinks for a moment before answering. "I think I can. I watched you enough. Sure." Yuuri shrugs his shoulders.

"Alright then honey. I'll be back later. Don't forget to get your practice clothes from the dryer. I'm going to put them in as I leave. Ok?'

"Ok. Thanks Mom." Yuuri gives a loving smile to her, much like the one he gives Conrad. Gwendal notices the similarities and turns his head away from the affection. Jennifer leaves the room as Yuuri gets to his feet, hands on his hips.

"I guess it's up to me." He sighs, picking up the utensils. Turning on the blow-dryer, he begins to blow-dry the long charcoal hair.

During this time, Gwendal begins to think about the sweet exchange between Yuuri and his mother. The only people who have ever given him that type of affectionate smile were Yuuri and Greta, but even then, he couldn't reciprocate the smile the same to Greta. Someone is always interrupting his possible response to Yuuri's smile, but Greta is incredibly sweet, cute, and hangs onto him for safety. The least he could do for the child who puts so much trust in him is to smile back at her with the same affection, but something in him won't allow it. The most he can do is a small yet pained smile. As these thoughts go through his head, he begins to get angry at his inability to smile.

Yuuri notices how tense the man seems to be getting as he works on his hair. Gwendal isn't exactly the type of person you can tell to relax and he does it. Suddenly, an idea crosses his mind.

As he's drying a section of hair, Yuuri flicks to wrist and blows air directly into Gwendal's eyes. The older man flinches at the gust of warm air hitting his eyes; he glares up at the smiling teen. He goes back to looking straight ahead, still scowling, after a few minutes. Yuuri continues to dry his hair at very rapid pace. Again, he's hit with another gust of air, this time in his ear. Pulling away from the air, he turns and nearly growls out Yuuri's name.

"Heika, what are you doing?"

"I'm just drying your hair. Is there something wrong?" Yuuri puts on his best innocent doe-eyed face.

Gwendal's scowl breaks for a moment at the cute face, but quickly remembers he's suppose to be upset with his king. "Stop that."

"Stop what?" Yuuri asks innocently.

"Blowing air in my face."

"I would never do such a thing." Yuuri smiles brightly, but Gwendal misses the mischievous sparkle in the black eyes. Gwendal merely folds his arms over his chest and scowls.

Yuuri works his way around Gwendal's head and as he completes drying the tall man's hair, he once again flicks his wrist to blow air in the man's face. This time, Gwendal purses his lips as his eyebrow twitches in annoyance.

"What's wrong, Gwendal?" Yuuri asks, flicking his wrist again, blowing air in his advisors face.

"Stop that."

"Stop what?" Another flick of the wrist.

"That." Gwendal grinds his teeth together.

"What? This?" Yuuri flicks his wrist again.

"Yes, that." Gwendal bites his lip to curb his anger.

"What's wrong with that?" Flick.

Gwendal stills himself. "It's annoying."

Yuuri blows air in his face, much like he's doing to Gwendal. "Really? I don't see how. Here try it again."

Flick. That was the limit for the stoic man. He reaches out for the blow-dryer but Yuuri pulls it from his reach in the knick of time, but still manages to flick it once again. Gwendal stands up and grabs at the blow-dryer, missing it once again and gaining a face full of hot air. Yuuri backs up as Gwendal starts progressing towards him with intent to remove the blow-dryer from his hands.

"Yuuri if you do that one more time, I'll—"

"You'll what? Spank me?" Yuuri laughs light-heartedly at his joke. Gwendal stops in his tracks and almost turns around to leave the room, but where was he going to go? He doesn't know where anything is. The only way to stop the king is to take the blow-dryer from his hands.

"No, I'll make sure Gunter is thoroughly worried about you when we get back to New Makoku."

Yuuri looks slightly disturbed by the threat but that quickly changes with his own retort. "Well, I'll tell Anissina about the gadgets we have here and ask if she could reproduce them, just to get you to test them."

Gwendal narrows his eyes at Yuuri. "That's cold."

Breaking the stalemate they're in, Yuuri blows air in his face once again. Gwendal lunges at the teen, wrapping his arms around his waist as Yuuri turns to get away from him. The war strategist tries to use his long arms to reach the blow-dryer, but somehow Yuuri keeps the device just out of his reach.

Through the struggle for power of the blow-dryer, Yuuri still manages to turn it on Gwendal and blow him in the face or ear. Finally as Yuuri is twisting from Gwendal's hold, Gwendal manages to grab the blow-dryer, but Yuuri's not letting go. Yuuri grabs Gwendal's wrist, trying to pry the device from the tall man's grasp. Gwendal then holds Yuuri's wrist with his other hand, bringing them to another stalemate.

Gwendal smirks down at Yuuri in apparent victory, not realizing the compromising position he unknowingly put them in; Yuuri is pushed up against the wall facing Gwendal, who has his hands pinned above his head. But what he finds when he meets the young king's eyes is a smile, much like the one he gave his mother.

"You've finally relaxed." Yuuri says happily. Flipping the switch on the blow-dryer, he turns it off.

"Excuse me?" Gwendal replies sharply.

"While I was drying your hair, you suddenly became tense, so I had to find a way of relaxing you or you were going to have shoulder cramps from being humped over like you were." Yuuri's warm breath hits his face.

He blushes slightly as he sees the position they're in. Gwendal releases the blow-dryer and Yuuri's wrist as his anger drains from his body. After a moment of just standing still, with Yuuri looking up at him, he looks at Yuuri with a slight scowl/pout.

"Thank you and forgive me for being angry with you." Gwendal steps back, allowing some space for Yuuri to breathe.

"Don't worry; I did it to get your mind off of whatever you were thinking about." Yuuri places the blow-dryer on his desk, but when he looks up at Gwendal, he gives him a strange look.

Gwendal notices the strange look Yuuri is giving him. "What is it?"

Yuuri continues to stair at Gwendal, almost as if he is in a trance. "You look...really good with your hair down." Yuuri snaps out of his trance as soon as he realizes what he said.

Gwendal tilts his head to the left. "I do?"

Yuuri looks away, trying to hide his blush. "Well, this is the first time for me to see you with your hair down. You look very...I don't know...Just forget it."

Opening his mouth to push for what the king was going to say, but thinks better of it. "Thank you." He looks over to the blushing Yuuri as a tingling starts spreading through his body. 'Why won't he tell me what he was going to say? The curiosity is going to get the better of me, I see.'

Once again he opens his mouth to ask the burning question, but Yuuri interrupts as he begins speaking. "Hey, I need to get ready for practice. We've got about five minutes before we have to go."

"Yes, sir." Gwendal sits down on the bed and begins absently brushing his hair. When he hears no movement from the teen, he looks back to find him staring at his hair.

"Heika, you must get ready if you wish to arrive on time." Yuuri slightly jumps at the gruff voice, stirring him from his wondering thoughts of Gwendal.

"Hai!" He virtually runs from his bedroom, leaving a somewhat amused Gwendal on his bed. Gwendal casually examines the room from his seat, seeing everything that is Yuuri: baseball paraphernalia, old baseball gloves, pictures of his teams he's played for, pictures of his family, and old toys.

'So this is what Yuuri does...is.'

"Gwendal are you ready to go?" Yuuri comes walking back into the room in uniform, holding a pair of socks and his cleats. Looking the long-haired man down, it dawns on Yuuri that Gwendal has no shoes to wear. "You have no shoes. Your boots aren't dry yet, so you'll have to wear my dad's. Shori may have left some of his old shoes here like he did some of his clothes." Gwendal looks down at his feet and then up at Yuuri, simply staring.

"Let me go find you a pair; I'll be right back." Gwendal hears the younger man's footsteps grow quieter.

'How undignified! Having to wear a pair of shoes that don't belong to me!' He scowls down at his feet and makes a mental note to ask for a new method of dimension travel that does not require water.

"Aww, all I could find are these black casual track shoes Shori bought but never wore." Yuuri drops them in front of Gwendal.

Gwendal looks at them and then up at Yuuri then back down at the shoes.

"Oh I guess you'll need some socks. Let me go get some." Yuuri walks out of the room as Gwendal stares at the shoes in front him. He picks up one of them and inspects the laces and tongue. It's unlike anything he's seen in New Makoku.

As Yuuri walks back into the room, he tosses a pair of sock to Gwendal. Gwendal puts on the thick cotton socks, wiggling his toes comfortably in them. Yuuri drops to the floor, still holding his own socks and shoes, and begins pulling on his socks. Gwendal puts on the two shoes without tying the laces.

"How do they feel?" Yuuri pulls on his running shoes and puts his cleats into his baseball bag.

Gwendal wiggles his toes as he contemplates the shoes. "Fine. What do I do with these strings?"

"You tie them in a knot; they help keep the shoe on your foot." Gwendal ties them in a simple knot, but still scowls at the shoes, unhappy he's not getting to wear his boots.

"Are you ready to go?"

"Yes."

"Good! Let's go." Yuuri jumps up from the floor and puts his baseball bag on his shoulder. Then he notices something about Gwendal that almost bothers him. "Are you going to put your hair up?"

"Oh," The tall man stands up looking around for his tie to put his hair up with. "I believe my tie is still in the restroom."

"Alright, we'll get it on the way out." The young king walks through the doorway and to the bathroom, flipping off the light switch.

After stopping in the bathroom to get Gwendal's tie, they walk down the stairs. This entire time Gwendal is pulling his hair back into the usual low ponytail. Reaching the bottom of the stairs, he looks at his reflection in the hallway mirror. Nodding his approval, he continues following Yuuri, who has opened the front door, palm up.

Gwendal walks through the door, Yuuri not too far behind. "Wow, it feels like I haven't been out here in weeks." Yuuri breathes deeply, breathing the refreshing outside air. "Ah, it's so familiar." Stepping off the porch, they begin their journey to the ballpark.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Gwendal notices a major different between New Makoku and this world. No horses. "Heika, where are all the horses or carriages?"

Yuuri seems a bit startled by the voice beside him. "Oh, um, in this world, we use cars. They're more powerful and go faster, much more efficient in my opinion. We'll probably see a car pretty soon because we're going to cross an intersection at the end of the street."

Gwendal's eyes remain trained on the shorter man, observing his mannerisms; at least until Yuuri pulls him out of the way of a light pole. "Whoa, you almost hit that pole. You've got to pay more attention to where you're going. If you keep walking like that, you might have been hit by a car." Yuuri looks curiously at the older man. "What were you doing? You're usually very attentive."

Gwendal frowns at being griped at by the younger man, but he still answers the question. "I was thinking."

"Oh." They continue walking down the sidewalk until they reach the intersection.

Beep Beep A car goes driving by at an alarming rate.

"That was a car. See what I was telling you about paying attention? If you had walked in front of that car, you would have been severely injured or maybe even dead."

Gwendal looks in the direction of which the car went in shock.

"This world is a bit technologically more advanced than yours now, but even then we went through a period where horses and carriages were the main mode of transportation."

"I see." They walk together in silence down the street, passing a convenient store and a laundry mat. Gwendal looks but doesn't ask questions. Their journey takes them a few more minutes as they pass a playground and a couple of people.

Upon arriving at the ballpark, Yuuri hears someone shout his name, that someone being Murata.

"Yuuri! I'm glad you could make it", Murata runs up to him. "I didn't know if your mother was going to remember to give you the message. I see you brought Gwendal with you today." Murata bows to the other man.

Gwendal bows to the young manager, "Your highness."

Murata waves his hands in front of him. "We aren't kings and sages here. No need to be formal."

"I've told him that already. I guess old habits are hard to break", Yuuri chuckles. "Hey, Murata, I thought you were going to talk to the Original King?"

"I am; I just decided that since your were back, we could have baseball practice."

"Ok?"

"Anyways, practice is about to begin. Go ahead and get your cleats on and suited up. Today I want to focus on Tatsumi's pitching today."

"Hai."

"And Gwendal, you can sit on the bleachers and watch our star catcher." Murata points the bleachers beside the dugout as Gwendal nods. "Well, I'm going to tell Tatsumi to get warmed up." Ken walks back to the dugout without any more words. Yuuri heads to the bleachers, sitting as he changes into his cleats.

"Are you going to be alright sitting here by yourself? Practice shouldn't be too long today."

Gwendal bows his head and folds his arms adamantly across his chest. "I'll be fine."

"Good! I'm off." Yuuri pulls catcher's mitt out and leaves his bag beside the scowling man. The last thing he hears before entering the dugout is the tall military strategist mumbling something like "...treating me like a child..." Yuuri simply sniggers under his breath and starts putting on his catcher's garb.

Gwendal watches the other players warm up by tossing balls back and forth to each other while a few swing their bat.

Tweet Tweet

Gwendal jumps at the sound of the whistle but quickly recovers; when he gets his bearings again, he sees all the players lining up on the first base line. All the players are out of the dugout, but he can't find Yuuri anywhere in the line-up.

"OK! Gentlemen, you're going to do sprints. Go at the sound of my whistle. Remember, you must touch the line when you comeback." Tweet The men run a little ways and comeback. Tweet The men run a little farther and comeback. And so on...

While sprints are being run, Gwendal is inwardly having a small heart attack, as he still has yet to find Yuuri amongst his peers. Outwardly, he looks plain bored.

"YUURI! You've got to move faster. We depend on you to be fast. Now move it!" Murata yells at the person with the shin guards, chest guard, and backwards cap on.

'That's Yuuri? That hat of sorts changes his appearance significantly; I didn't recognize him.'

Tweet "Good hustle men. Now I want everyone to break into pairs and practice throwing from your position to your partner's position. Yuuri and Tatsumi, please come with me." Murata motions for the pitcher and catcher to go to their respective positions at home plate and the pitcher's mound.

"Alright, Tatsumi, I can see you have great potential, but you need to be in more control of the ball and more consistent with your aim. Getting those two things down, I think you would be completely unbeatable."

"Really?"

Yuuri chimes in enthusiastically. "We depend on you to keep our opponents from hitting the ball and getting onto base. If we can't trust you to do your part, we won't be able to take up your slack. We have too much to worry about already. But I know that you are a team player and when you do pitch is almost perfect. Let's work on what's not perfect and win all our games."

"Hai!"

"Now Yuuri I want you to..."

Gwendal watches the three men discuss their practice strategy. After a few minutes, Yuuri walks to home plate and Murata stands behind Yuuri as umpire. "All right, Tatsumi, choose your pitches wisely."

It was then that Gwendal notices how close Murata is as he squats behind Yuuri as Yuuri pulls down his face mask. It's a bit too close for comfort for Gwendal, but he seems to not be able to take his eyes off of the gap. That is until Yuuri slips his right hand between his legs.

'What are they doing that requires such lewd behavior in public?' He asks himself.

Yuuri holds up his glove and the ball goes flying into it at an alarming rate.

"STRIKE! Good pitch. Try a different one."

Yuuri's hand slips between his legs again, but this time, Gwendal watches both Yuuri and Tatsumi. That's when he notices the minute nod of Tatsumi's head, signaling he's chosen his next pitch.

'How discreet...I wouldn't have ever known."

Yuuri, once again, holds up his glove; this time the ball is a bit high, but just as the ball is about to reach Yuuri's glove, it drops down significantly. Yuuri catches it with no problem.

"Great sinker! That would have been a strike to remember. Good job!"

The routine of pitching continues for a little while longer. Blowing his whistle again, Murata shouts that it's time for a scrimmage; he proceeds to split the team into two smaller divisions. The division Yuuri isn't in, goes and puts on blue mesh jerseys.

Gwendal watches with interest as Yuuri's team takes their positions on the field, with Yuuri, of course, as catcher. The pitcher, Tatsumi throws a few warm up pitches as the batter stands just outside of the batter's box, warming up.

"Alright ladies, let's see what you can do!" Murata yells pulling his face mask down. Yuuri crouches as the batter steps up to the plate; Murata leans in close and whispers something into Yuuri's ear which causes the young Maou to look over to Gwendal. Taking a step back, Murata shouts "PLAY BALL!"

Behind the tall man, a small group of young women walk past the ballpark. "Oh look." "Cute baseball players!" "Hmm! They look so strong." "Let me tell you, they can sure wear those pants." "They do accentuate their round rears quite nicely." They giggle as they walk out of earshot of Gwendal.

'Their pants accentuate their...OH!' Gwendal watches the women as they grow smaller to his vision. He snaps his head back to the practice game as he hears "STRIKE!" come from Murata's mouth. He tries to watch the game but he finds his eyes wondering Yuuri's form.

Every time the eighteen year-old stands up to the throw the ball, time stops for Gwendal. The young catcher moves gracefully, movements in a wave that start at his feet and end with his wrist as he releases the ball. Gwendal watches as Yuuri throws another ball back to the pitcher, admiring how his toned muscles contract with each move.

"Ok, all bases loaded, stay sharp", Yuuri yells from behind home plate. He punches his gloved palm, pumping himself up for the next batter.

'How long was I thinking about Yuuri? The last I saw, there was only one person on base." Gwendal scowls in confusion for a moment, but when the batter hits the ball to centerfield, his attention goes to Yuuri, who just stepped onto the plate, throwing his mask off.

The centerfielder dives for the ball, but manages to catch it on the bounce. With all his effort he lobs the ball to home plate, where Yuuri is waiting. The player on third base takes off running to home. As if in slow motion, Yuuri catches the ball as the player approaches; in one swift motion, he takes a step towards the runner, dropping to his knees, glove out on in front of him, and tags the runner as he slides into home.

"OUT!"

"Yeah! That's the way Yuuri", One of his teammate's shouts. Standing up, he holds out his hand, offering it to the ousted runner. The runner takes his hand and stands up with the help of Yuuri.

"That was incredible. I thought I was home, but then you came out of no where and put me out. I glad we're on the same team or my team would be in trouble."

"Ah, it was just luck, I guess. You're fast. Good job though!" Yuuri pats his teammate on the back, knocking dirt into a little cloud.

Gwendal watches as Yuuri has a slight coughing fit within the cloud. He begins to reminisce of three years ago when he first met Yuuri.

Three years ago when he first met his new king, he thought 'this kid can't do anything for New Makoku'. He was a loud-mouthed, scrawny teen who didn't seem to want to be king. He never understood why Gunter would poetically fawn over the boy, or why Conrad trusted him so much. He could actually see why Wolfram would call him a wimp. But when he and Yuuri were chained together and they spoke of using the people's taxes for good rather than an extravagant kingship, Gwendal felt his heart stumble. A king who is fair to the people in all aspects was a completely new concept for him. 'He really is different.' It was then, when the first of box destroyed Caloria and he aided the people in rebuilding the town, did Gwendal realize that Yuuri was not a wimp, but an unprejudiced, caring, loving person. Over the next three years, Gwendal saw this young Maou change the face of the country into that of peace; humans and Mazokus living next door in the same town. People trust him with their lives; Gwendal trusts him with his life.

During those same three years, Gwendal found himself watching Yuuri, watching him change people's lives. But it as much as he's seen Yuuri in the other world, he has never seen the real Yuuri, the Yuuri that lives what used to be his normal life.

"OUT!"

"Good job Tatsumi! One more out and we win!" Yuuri yells from behind the plate.

Gwendal is drawn out of his thoughts by the yell; he turns his attention to Yuuri, who is covered in dirt, almost from head to toe. He begins dusting himself off, creating a little haze of dust; he shakes out his hair and wipes his shoulder and chest. Twisting his body, he looks over his shoulder and down at his backside; he dusts his rear, leaving only a slight stain of orange dirt.

Gwendal leisurely stares at the young man's rear, taking it the stain, the plumpness, the round shape. Yuuri looks back to check on Gwendal, but he find that Gwendal isn't looking back where he thought he would be. He follows the path to where the tall man's gaze is lingering. He smirks to himself when blue eyes meet midnight black; he sees Gwendal blush for a moment before lowering his eyes in a scowl.

'So there's something to Gwendal nobody knows about.' Yuuri knots his eyebrows together. Turning back to the game, Yuuri throws the ball back to the pitcher, signaling the continuation.

'What...happened? Did I just get caught staring at Yuuri's bottom? Those women were right though; those pants do accentuate the shape of the-'

"COME ON, COME ON!" Gwendal snaps his head up as he sees Yuuri scrambling for the ball that someone just bunted. Yuuri picks up the ball, and with more sharpness than Gwendal had seen from the Maou, Yuuri throws the ball to second base, outing the person running there from first base; then the second baseman throws the ball to first base, outing the batter.

"Out! And game over! Bring it in, guys", Murata hollers to the team. All the men gather around the pitcher's mound, Yuuri lingers back from the crowd, staring at his glove.

"Yuuri! Hurry up and get over here!"

"Oh...Sorry." Joining the group, Yuuri takes a quick glance over to Gwendal; he has never seen Gwendal look even remotely relaxed as he did at that quick glance. Gwendal has his feet propped up on the stadium bench in front of him, elbows resting on his knees; even his face has relaxed into an almost serene look.

Yuuri finds himself staring at the usually stoic man with wonderment at what he could be thinking at the moment. Not wanting to be a hindrance any longer, Yuuri pulls his gaze from older man and begins paying attention to whatever Murata is saying.

Gwendal turns his head, catching Yuuri turning his head away from him.

'He was looking at me; I felt his gaze the entire time. What was he thinking when he was looking at me?'

"1...2...3...SHARKS IN THE PARK!" The huddle breaks apart, players walking into the dugout and gathering their stuff. Yuuri and Murata chat as they walk into the dugout.

"Yeah, we've got a lot of work to do before the last game in two weeks; it's the championship of our league. The winner gets a cash prize."

"That's pretty cool. Hopefully I'll be here for it." Yuuri unbuckles straps on the shin guards, setting them beside him on the bench. Looking around cautiously, Yuuri leans in close to Murata. "I don't know what to do with Gwendal. If I knew the mission this wouldn't be an issue, but I don't know what the Original King wants me to do. This world is big and being vague isn't going to help me."

Murata bites his bottom lip, as if he's having an inner conflict. "The last time I talked to the king, he was vague about his intentions. He said one thing to me, almost like a hint. 'Knowing his future may have an adverse effect on what he does now.'"

"Wow, that said so much, yet very little." Yuuri deadpans.

"It seems that way, but I've been thinking about it. The king knows of your future and goals, and he tries to help in you, his own way, achieve those goals so that your future or rather destiny isn't disturbed."

"So if I knew the ultimate purpose for Gwendal being here, it may change my destiny?" Yuuri pulls the chest guard over his head, shaking the dirt out his hair.

"Basically, yes."

"...Ok. That makes me worry a little bit, but I will do what I can."

"That's the spirit. Let whatever you find out be a surprise."

Yuuri levels a glare at Murata. "Sure, whatever."

"Well Shibuya, I must be going; I've got to talk to Ulrike about a few things. See you in a week." Murata waves to Yuuri as he walks away. Yuuri shifts his glare to Gwendal, changing it to a small smile. Walking out of the dugout, Yuuri roughly sits down beside the tall man.

"Whew! I'm tired. Squatting takes a lot out of you." Closing his eyes, Yuuri lets the slight breeze relax him from the grueling practice. Gwendal can't help but look at the short man's form.

"Gwendal?"

"Yes Yuuri?"

"What were you thinking about earlier when you were looking at me earlier?"

"...nothing", came Gwendal's curt reply.

"You can't stare at somebody and not be thinking about something. That's the whole reason why somebody would stare, they're thinking. Is it embarrassing or something? I won't make fun of you if it is."

Gwendal scowls at the young man, but sighs. "I want to know you...as you are in this world."

Yuuri stares blankly at the taller man. "Why?"

Gwendal stares hard at Yuuri, furrowing his brows. "You...seem different here; perhaps because you're more comfortable here...on Earth."

"I guess. I've never really thought about it." They stare at each other for a few moments, trying to guess what each is thinking.

Gwendal is the first to break the unintentional staring contest. "So what do we do now, Yuuri?"

Yuuri thinks for a moment before answering. "Well, I don't know. We've still got 3 hours until its dark and even then we can do something because we have streetlights. How do you feel at the moment?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean like, are you hungry? Tired? Want to dance? Hey, I've got an idea! Let's go see the Sakura Trees!"

"What are those?"

"They are the most beautiful tree. At this time of the year, the blooms begin to fall; it looks like snow with the amount of blooms falling. Every year..." Yuuri hesitates, looking down into his lap. "Every year, when I was younger, Shori and I would go watch the blooms fall. Hehe, it was usually when my parents were fighting or we had a scary baby-sitter; he would take me to watch the blossoms fall to calm us down."

Gwendal looks at the slumped form of the Maou, and oh, how his heart twists at seeing the ever cheerful Yuuri sad. Holding himself back, Gwendal allows the sudden urge to hug Yuuri to pass. Had he been Conrad or Gunter, he would have hugged Yuuri, but being the man with an iron mask that rarely breaks, he couldn't bring himself to do it.

"How come you stopped?" Gwendal asks in an alarmingly soft tone he didn't know he could make.

"I don't know...I wish I knew." Yuuri is silent for a moment, then shaking his head, he stands up. "I'm going to shower and change in the restroom then after that, we'll drop my bag off at home and then we'll do something. I'll be back in ten minutes." Yuuri doesn't even wait for Gwendal's reply; he just turns and walks away with his head hanging.

Gwendal feels his chest tighten as he watches the Maou walk into the restroom. 'Why do I feel this way when Yuuri looks hurt or happy? What's the meaning of this?' Gwendal stands up and begins walking slowly in the ballpark area. A few children run by him with gloves and balls, laughing and jumpy in youthful joy. Gwendal stands still for a moment. 'I've never experienced that kind of joy or happiness. Have I ever been happy?' As Gwendal contemplates the answer, he stares out at the falling sun, noting that it's not much different than the sun in New Makoku.

Suddenly there is a tap on his shoulder, startling him from his thoughts. He instinctively reaches for his sword as he whips around, but finding nothing he decides to punch his perpetrator in self-defense. His 'attacker' ducks below the flying fist, shouting, "WHOA! GWENDAL!"


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

His 'attacker' ducks below the flying fist, shouting, "WHOA! GWENDAL!"

Only then did Gwendal realize it was Yuuri dodging his fist. He looks surprised as realizes he just tried to hit King Yuuri. 'This is most unforgivable.'

Yuuri stands up brushing off his knees; Gwendal notices that he's wearing the same thing from before baseball practice; a long sleeve black t-shirt, green camouflage shorts, and black skateboarding shoes. "Remind me to never sneak up on you. Whew that was dangerous." The tall man immediately bows apologetically and begins apologizing for his misconduct. Yuuri waves his hand in front of him. "Stand up, stand up! It was my fault; you're in a new strange world and I didn't warn you that I was nearby. No need for you to apologize." Yuuri bows to Gwendal. "Please forgive me for startling you."

Gwendal looks up from his bow and find the top of Yuuri's head in his face. Yuuri looks up, meeting Gwendal's sharp blue eyes. They both stand up at the same time, still looking at each other, Gwendal with a look of disbelief, and Yuuri with a look of regret. Fixing his mask of stoicism on his face, Gwendal calmly clears his throat and breaks the eye contact.

"Shall we proceed, Yuuri?"

"Yeah, I guess." Yuuri picks his bag up off the ground and thus begins their short journey back to Yuuri's house. They walk in uncomfortable silence; something's tense between them.

"Yuuri, we don't have to see the Sakura trees if you don't wish to."

"No, no! I want you to see them. They're beautiful and I want You to see them. It doesn't matter about me; don't worry about me. I'm fine." Yuuri almost sounds angry.

Gwendal recognizes the tone as Yuuri's passionate tone, like when he's being insistent on stopping unnecessary violence. "Yes, sir."

Yuuri looks up at Gwendal and softens his voice. "Please don't call me sir or Heika. I'm not your superior here; please call me Shibuya or Yuuri. No formalities please."

"Ok, Yuuri." He looks curiously to the shorter man.

"You know what? I just realized that I don't know much of anything about you."

"What?"

"You're a mystery to me. Of everyone I know in New Makoku, I know very little about you. Ah here we are. I'll be right back." Yuuri scampers off to the front door of his house, throws his bag into the house, slams the door, and is back beside Gwendal in ten seconds.

'He wants to know me?'

"All right, let's go." Yuuri starts walking, swinging his arms cheerfully. Gwendal follows closely behind.

"Is there something you'd like to know about me?"

"Yeah, everything. Like-what your favorite color is? What your favorite food is? What is the name of your horse? How old are you?-Things like that."

"Why?"

"You're an intriguing person, mysterious."

"I'm just your subordinate."

"Yeah and so is Dorcas, but I know that he has a wife and a kid who live with his parents. Gisela didn't want to be a medical officer, but rather a sergeant in the military, but because of Gunter's concerns, she went into nursing. She still earns her title of 'Sergeant' though."

"But why?"

"I like to know as much as I can about my friends."

'He considers me a friend?' Gwendal's breath hitches in his throat at this realization. Never before had he had anyone refer to him as a friend. This thought brings tears to his eyes, threatening to negate any mask he puts on his face.

"Gwendal? Are you ok?"

Gwendal lowers his head, using his bangs as a shield as he tries to get in control of his emotions. Biting his bottom lip, he takes slow breaths, concentrating on anything but his heart's pounding. He suddenly feels a hand on his shoulder as Yuuri puts enough pressure to make him stop walking.

"Gwendal, talk to me. What's wrong?"

"..."

"You can be very obstinate sometimes. Please just tell me what's wrong." Yuuri stands in front of Gwendal, placing each of his hands on each of Gwendal's shoulders. "You can tell me."

Gwendal looks up enough to see Yuuri's concerned gaze. "I've only had one friend, Anissina." Yuuri gasps in surprise.

"Really? Not even Gunter?"

"Well maybe Gunter, but I think of him more like a brother."

"But you're such a nice guy. You have some interesting quirks, but you're really a nice guy." Yuuri's eyes begin tearing up as his bottom lips begins to tremble. "How can someone go through life without a single friend in the world for them?" Yuuri moves so quickly that Gwendal doesn't have time to register what is happening until all movement stops.

With arms underneath Gwendal's, Yuuri hugs the older man, tucking his face into his shoulder. "Why? Everyone deserves a friend." Yuuri pulls back from the stunned man and searches his eyes for some meaning behind this cruel hand life dealt Gwendal.

Gwendal is stunned by Yuuri's actions. Never before had he been hugged, except by his mother, but in all reality, she was hanging off of him as he stood as a stone statue. He looks at the man wrapped around his waist incredulously as he tries to figure out what to do with his hands. He can feel warmth spreading throughout his body, all stemming from his chest. When Yuuri pulls back, he finds himself being searched for an answer he doesn't know.

Yuuri lets his hands drop from Gwendal's waist to his sides. Gwendal suddenly misses the warmth that Yuuri provided him with; reluctantly he puts his indifference mask to explain himself.

"Duty doesn't allow for friends."

Yuuri smiles sadly up at Gwendal. "Duty..." Yuuri's smile brightens. "But here on Earth you have no duties. I'll be your friend here and in New Makoku."

Overwhelming feelings of joy fill Gwendal's heart, making him smile outwardly.

"You know, that's the second time I've seen you smile." The smile disappears as quickly as it showed up. "That's another one of those things I want to know about you, why you never smile."

Gwendal turns his head, hiding the blush rising to his cheeks. In all his 183 years of life, he has never been treated this way; he was always the war strategist, but nothing more. Most people ignored him or were completely scared of him. Only his brothers, Gunter, and Anissina know him and respect him as the person he is.

Not paying attention, Gwendal feels Yuuri's hand go around his wrist and tug him in the direction they were walking. "Come on!"

"Must you hold my wrist so tightly?"

Yuuri lets go of Gwendal's wrist upon realizing his mistake. "Sorry."

They walk a few more blocks down the street in comfortable silence.

Yuuri, this time, is the first to break the silence. "So how did Anissina and you meet?"

Gwendal visibly shivers at the name of his childhood friend. "We met very similar to the way we meet everyday. Her parents were visiting with my mother and she happened to tag along with them. I was sitting in my room studying when she barged in without permission and dragged me away to the garden so I could be her test subject for the 'Evil Butterfly Catcher-kun'."

Yuuri snickers under his breath. "Such wonderful names for her inventions."

Gwendal levels Yuuri with a glare, to which the young man didn't miss because he silenced himself almost immediately. "Is she the one that taught you how to knit?"

"...Yes."

"Are you embarrassed by it? I always thought it was interesting. All your animals are cute even though they may not look like you say they are."

"What do you mean?"

"Eh...Some of your animals actually look like other animals, like the kitty you made me, I love it to death, but it kind of looks like...a raccoon." Yuuri takes a large step away from Gwendal, but continues walking.

Gwendal glowers at Yuuri, trying to figure out how a cat can look like a raccoon.

"I'm sorry. Nonetheless, they are still very cute." Yuuri gives Gwendal a cheeky, nervous smile, hoping he doesn't get pummeled to death.

"Hm." The tall man huffs at Yuuri for insulting his precious dolls. He feels a tug on his arm, distracting him from his glaring at Yuuri. He finds Yuuri standing in front of his, looking sheepishly guiltily in his eyes.

"Don't be mad at me. I'm sorry. Sometimes I'm brutally honest and can't stop myself from talking. I'm sorry, please forgive me; I don't want to ruin your stay here on Earth."

"Why are you so concerned about this little...trip?"

"I want this experience to be the best for you." Yuuri looks at Gwendal with watery wide eyes, stirring Gwendal's love for cuteness in his heart.

Sighing, Gwendal speaks. "Its fine, I'm aware that my knitting isn't perfect, but I'm glad you like them. It means a lot to me to know that the Maou likes my creations."

All of a sudden, Yuuri gasps. Gwendal follows Yuuri's line of sight to see what he's looking at.

"We're here!"

Gwendal finds himself in the midst of a park of nothing but large Sakura trees. As the wind gently blows around them, the blooms fall from the tree, carried by the wind as if snowflakes on a cold, winter's day. The stoic man feels goosebumps arise on his skin at the gracefully beautiful sight.

"Yuuri..." He whispers. The smell of the blooms and the motion of the trees swaying in the wind soothe Gwendal to the core. He closes his eyes taking in the feeling of calm and serenity within these trees.

"You're smiling again."

Gwendal opens his eyes in surprise and finds that he is, in fact, smiling again. Twice in one day.

"It's nice. Thank you." Beside Gwendal, Yuuri blushes as he gazes at him, watching him.

Yuuri cleans his throat to distract him from staring at the beautiful man beside him. "When the blooms begin to fall, it means winter is coming soon."

"What are these called again?"

"Sakura trees."

"Thank you for showing me."

"You're welcome. Would you like to stay here longer or would you like to go do something else?"

"I'd like to stay here a little while longer, if that's ok with you."

Yuuri smiles gently at Gwendal, who looks toward the trees once again. He can't help but stare at his stoic friend, at how the man looks content as the wind rushes past his loose bangs. He thinks, most surprisingly, that Gwendal is quite handsome, much like Konrad but a little bit prettier.

Perhaps Yuuri never noticed it before because in New Makoku, Gwendal is a very intense person, completely focused on protecting his country.

"Did you need something, Yuuri?"

Yuuri quickly averts his eyes from the tall man whose intense gaze is making nervous. "Uh…well, I was just thinking about you actually. It's nothing important." Yuuri turns away, hiding his rouge cheeks.

"What were you thinking about me?"

"It's not important, just an observation."

"Is it something bad?"

"No, no. Not at all."

"Then why can't you tell me? If it's not going to offend me then you can go ahead and tell me."

"Ok, but don't hit me or anything." Yuuri sighs in resignation. "I was just thinking that…you…you're…"

"I'm what?" Gwendal asks rather impatiently. He has no urge to hear mindless stuttering.

"You're a…very handsome man." Yuuri braces himself to be yelled at or maybe even punched. Flinching away from Gwendal, he squeezes his eyes shut waiting for whatever impact maybe headed his way. After a few moments, Yuuri cracks an eye wondering what Gwendal is doing since he's not being yelled at.

Gwendal is just standing there, looking thoughtful, and blinking blankly at Yuuri.

"You know, I'm sorry, Gwendal. I shouldn't have said anything. It must be weird coming from another man. Please excuse my stupidity." Yuuri bows to Gwendal out of respect.

"Yuuri…" Gwendal whispers to himself. Yuuri turns to walk away, but before he could take a step, Gwendal calls to him.

"Yuuri!"

"Gwendal", he responds without turning around.

The long-haired man walks off the path onto the grass, standing beneath one of the large sakura trees.

"I know that you have received many compliments in baseball and as king. Do you find it hard to receive them?" Gwendal asks gently, looking towards the canopy of the trees.

Yuuri turns around to look at Gwendal questioningly. "I don't understand what you mean."

"Do you find when you receive a compliment that you don't know how to respond to it?" Gwendal leans his shoulder against the tree with arms folded across his chest.

"Sometimes. Is that the way you feel right now?" Yuuri takes a step towards Gwendal.

Sighing, Gwendal nods. "Somewhat."

"Well my mom always tells me to smile and say thank you. You should try that."

A corner of Gwendal's mouth twitches into a half smile. "I suppose that's one solution, in that case", Gwendal gives Yuuri a small smile, with a slight blush, "Thank you." Its not very often anybody gets to see Gwendal's smile; Yuuri feels he has something small but special with the usually stoic man.

"You're welcome. So…are you ready to go do something else?"

"If you are. I really like this place though. I would like to come back soon."

"It's fine with me. Um…Well what do you want to do?"

Gwendal pushes away from the tree, in doing so, unfolding his arms. "I'm a little hungry."

"Have you heard of sushi or ramen?" Gwendal shakes his head.

"Um, let's have some ramen. Sushi is a bit too exotic for your first day here." Yuuri lead Gwendal through the park.

"What do you mean by exotic?"

"Well eating something like noodles is a common thing around the world and is an easy concept to grasp. Sushi and sashimi, on the other hand, are heard concepts for foreigners to grasp."

"What makes sushi exotic?"

"Sushi is made of raw fish. Technically it's chemically cooked with the seasonings and lemon juice."

"Oh."

"Anyways, I know this great place just past this park that serves perfect ramen. Murata and I eat there after practice sometimes, but that's mostly so he can flirt with the cute waitress."

"Flirt?"

"You know, what Wolfram would accuse me of when we were engaged. He usually called it cheating." Gwendal sort of smirks but nods in agreement.

Upon reaching the end of the park, Yuuri stretches his arms above his head, yawning. "Ah there's the restaurant." Yuuri says pointing to a sign that is hanging over a door that says 'Ramen'.

They both walk into the restaurant and sit at a table. In a matter of moments, a young woman, about 16, comes up to the table.

"Why, hello Yuuri! You're here a bit later than usual." She looks around the restaurant as if she's searching for something. "Where's your friend?"

"Oh Murata? He's not with me today."

"Aw are you missing your boyfriend?" The young girl teases, completely ignoring the looming man across the table from Yuuri.

Yuuri gasps in shock. "You know he's not my boyfriend."

"Really? He told me you were together." She says absently looking at Gwendal. "Is this a new friend of yours, Yuu-ri?" She asks in a sing-song voice.

"Eh…yeah. Hold on. Murata said that he and I were together?"

"Yep. Why?" The girl looks a bit worried as the Maou seems to be trembling as he turns red.

"That little—" Yuuri is suddenly distracted by a large hand on his shoulder.

"Yuuri", says a low soothing voice.

Yuuri looks up to find Gwendal leaning over the table, resting his hand on his shoulder.

"Gwendal…"

"That's an interesting name." The young waitress holds out her hand. "My name is Niishi." Gwendal hesitantly takes her hand as she vigorously shakes it. "So Yuuri, if you and Murata aren't together, is Gwendal your boyfriend? Murata said this restaurant is where you take all your boyfriends on dates."

The dark-haired king growls deep in his throat before losing all sanity. "ARGH! Murata and I have never been together! Even if was gay, which I'm not, I wouldn't go out with him because he's manipulative. He lied to you because he wanted to flirt with you without you getting creeped out. Gwendal isn't my boyfriend because, once again, I'm not GAY!" The last word of his sentence is nearly shouted into the sparsely populated restaurant. Yuuri collapses back into his seat with an embarrassed blush tint his cheeks.

"Immediately after Yuuri's rant, Niishi bows to Yuuri. "I'm so sorry, Yuuri. Please forgive me for my teasing about Murata and you. I didn't realize it was such a sore subject."

Yuuri hops up from his seat and bows to Niishi. "I shouldn't have shouted at you. There was no excuse for my behavior. Please forgive me." Yuuri remains bowed until the waitress begins chuckling behind her hand.

"What? Why are you laughing?"

"You go so upset when I asked you if Gwendal was your boyfriend. You're so cute." She leans in close to Yuuri's ear. "Do you like him?"

Yuuri turns bright red as he searches for words to say. "Uh…not like that."

Niishi looks disappointed for a moment, but get this sly look in her eyes. "But he's so handsome."

"I know…wait! You tricked me!"

"So you ARE gay?"

"No. I'm NOT GAY!"

"All right! You're not gay. I'm just teasing you a little."

"Thanks, Niishi." Yuuri sarcastically retorts.

"So what would you gentlemen like to order?" The young waitress whips out her writing tablet.

"I would like a bowl of Ramen and a cherry soda."

"And for you Gwendal?"

"Same thing as him, please. I'm not exactly familiar with the food of this country."

"Well Ramen is a good place to start. Anyways, I'll be back with your food soon."

"Thank you ma'am", Gwendal smoothly replies.

Niishi blushes as she walks away.

"Hmmm...look at you Gwendal. Making it in with the ladies! You're a natural Casanova." Yuuri teases.

"A natural Casanova?"

"You're just naturally good at getting women."

"Hm."

"In this world, you could probably get any woman you want. There are women who love that strong, brooding type and--"

"What's gay?"

"Gay? Eh, it's another word for homosexual. You know, people of the same-sex in a relationship."

"Is it not common as it is in New Makoku?"

"Well it may be but gay people aren't as open about it in public. Generally it's frowned upon by society. In fact, in America, there are people who go as far as to kill a gay man."

"They kill a man because he's in a relationship with another man? How uncivilized are they in America?" Gwendal looks appalled at the absurd thought of people killing for such trivial reasons. 'Though its not much different here than in New Makoku.'

"Americans aren't uncivilized, in fact they're world leaders, but there are a few, even here in Japan, who does radical stuff. Sometimes it's for attention and sometimes not. Most people aren't like that though."

"Now I understand."

"What?"

"When you first came to my world and proposed to Wolfram, you didn't understand how two guys could get married."

"That's right! That's because gay marriage isn't legal in most places."

"How can that be?"

"People tend to think it unnatural."

"Oh."

"Here's your ramen and drinks, gentlemen." Niishi walks up with a tray of two bowls of ramen and two glasses of soda. "Enjoy!" She places their respective bowls and cups in front of them.

Yuuri takes in a large whiff of his steamy ramen. "Ahh, it smells good." Picking up his chopsticks, he breaks them apart and prepares to dig in.

"Itadakimasu!" Expertly using the chopsticks, he begins digging in. As he puts a large bite of noodles in his mouth, he looks up to find Gwendal glaring at his own chopsticks.

"How do you use these sticks?" Gwendal asks annoyed.

"Oh sorry. I forgot you've never used chopsticks." Yuuri drops his sticks. After taking Gwendal's sticks from him, he begins placing the sticks in Gwendal's hands ever-so-often gracing the tan man's fingers. At the first touch, Gwendal jumps slightly, but manages not to pull away. After getting the chopsticks situated in his hang, Gwendal attempts to eat his noodle. The noodles constantly slip off of his sticks, splashing soup on him.

"Relax Gwendal, you're going to break the sticks. Look, your knuckles are turning white." Gwendal redirects his glare to Yuuri.

"Don't look at me like that. All you've got to do is relax your grip and it'll become easier." Gwendal continues to glare at Yuuri, who is again shoveling noodle into his face.

"Hei...Yuuri. Eating these noodles is impossible with this utensil."

"Would you rather use a fork?"

"Yes I would."

"Whiny baby", Yuuri grumbles to himself as he rolls his eyes.

"What was that?"

"Nothing", is Yuuri's quick reply as he motions to Niishi.

"What can I do for you Yuuri?" Niishi says cheerfully, glancing at Gwendal.

"My friend here needs a fork because he's not use to chopsticks."

"Yes sir. I'll be right back." Niishi rushes off to get the requested silverware.

"Gwendal, we'll get you using chopsticks in no time. Just not today." Yuuri grins at the scowling man.

"Here you go, Gwendal." Niishi returns with the fork. Gwendal politely nods to the young girl, who walks away blushing.

Gwendal, finally eating a mouthful of noodles, splashes some juice on his cheek. He takes the paper napkin and blots the corners of his mouth.

"Uh, Gwendal? You missed a spot." Yuuri points to his cheek for reference for Gwendal. The stoic man wipes at his cheek, still missing the green seasoning bit.

"Did I get it?"

"No. Try again." Gwendal tries once again, but to no avail. "Lean over, I get it for you." Yuuri gently pulls the offending spice from Gwendal's cheek with warm fingertips.

"Thank you, Yuuri." Yuuri casually waves off the appreciation and continues to eat. They both eat in silence, but inside their heads, thoughts are running rampant.

'Gwendal has the most beautiful blue eyes I've ever seen, like the ocean. No wonder they seem to catch me off-guard; they're intense, just like him.'

'His hands are so...soft. But yet, they're strong, as is he. That's what I admire about him.'

"Yuuri."

"Hmm?"

"Why did you and Wolfram break your engagement?"


	5. Chapter 5

"Why did you and Wolfram break your engagement?"

Yuuri freezes mid-bite. "Why do you ask?" He asks softly with down-turned eyes.

"I've been curious about it the day you announced it a year ago."

Yuuri looks thoughtful for a moment before answering. "Wolfram didn't think I could love him the way he thought I loved Conrad. But where he was wrong was that I couldn't love either of them, at that time, the way they wanted me to. We are too close as friends and I can bear losing that if something were to happen."

"What about now?"

"They're both still close friends so I can't really see myself with them. Besides, I don't really know if I'm... you know, into guys or not."

Gwendal nods as he continues eating with Yuuri joining in moments later. They eat for a little while longer in a non-awkward silence. Yuuri is the first to finish his meal. He casually finishes off his drink and excuses himself to the restroom, leaving Gwendal finishing his own bowl of ramen. He picks up his glass of cherry soda, sniffing it and inspecting the strange brownish-reddish color. He takes a sip as Yuuri walks back to the table.

Gwendal immediately begins sputtering at the soda in his mouth. "What is this Yuuri!" his voice is strained.

"It's soda." Yuuri looks puzzled at the tall man.

"Why does it hurt my tongue and throat?"

"It's carbonated! I thought you always drank wine. That's usually carbonated right?"

"Yes but this is sharper than wine. It's quite unusual."

"I guess so. It gets to me every now and then. The more you drink it, the less it stings."

"And it's very sweet."

"It's just a drink for casual situations. There's no alcohol in it; just flavor, sugar, and fizz."

"It's an interesting drink. Its flavor is vaguely familiar."

"Cherry."

"That must be it. Though it's not exactly cherry, but it's a hint of cherry."

"Well that's what cherry flavoring is; a hint of flavor in a ridiculous amount of sugar." Gwendal nods absently as he takes another sip.

Gwendal places his glass down as he wipes his mouth with his napkin. "What do we do now?"

"Well I wanted to go home so I could set your futon up for you to sleep on before we get too tired." Yuuri sips the last of his drink down.

"Is it okay for us to be out after dark? There may be bandits."

"Well, the criminals may be out, but if we stay in well lit areas we should be fine. Besides, this is a relatively safe neighborhood. There are always a lot of kids that play around here."

"Children are allowed to play outside without supervision?"

"Yeah. Their parents teach them everything they're supposed to know before letting them run wild." Yuuri looks wistfully out of the window.

Gwendal stops mid-sip as he remembers his afternoons as a young man, watching Conrad getting drilled in swordplay by Dan Hiri as he studied. Conrad's friends would run up to the fence and call for the hybrid Mazoku to join them; Dan Hiri always let him go gallivanting with the children to some unknown place. Gwendal remembers not really having any friends except for Anissina...

The blue-eyed man subconsciously shudders at the name of his childhood friend, bringing him back to the little ramen shop with Yuuri chuckling across from him.

"You must have been thinking about Anissina because you suddenly shuddered like you usually do when you hear her call your name."

"You're good at reading people and making logical deductions."

"Not really. I just happen to watch your reaction to her calling your name. It's rather funny actually because you get this look on your face that reminds me of a rabbit in headlights."

"Rabbit in headlights?"

"Um, like the way I look when Gunter is running to hug me."

"Ah."

"Are you ready to go?" Yuuri pulls his wallet form his back pocket, taking out about 1000 yen.

"Do you not have money pouches on Earth?"

Yuuri has to think a moment before answering. "Um...not pouches. Men here usually carry a wallet, like mine, or a money clip in their pockets; women carry purses that hold all their makeup and perfume and money."

"The currency here is in paper—"

"and coin." Yuuri quickly interjects.

"—and coin form and it's carried around in wallets and purses?"

"Correct. Now even though people carry around actual currency, even more people carry around little plastic cards that they can use in exchange for paper money. It's a whole complicated system, but it makes spending money easier." Gwendal and Yuuri both rise from their select table and walk to the paying counter.

Placing the 1000 yen on the counter, Yuuri and Gwendal bid farewell to Niishi, who promptly hugs them. Yuuri rolls his eyes as he is hugged, completely used to Niishi's strong character, but Gwendal's reaction is so un-Gwendal-like, Yuuri can't help but laugh.

As Niishi bear-hugs Gwendal, the tall man has trouble deciding how to react to this complete stranger hugging him fiercely. First, he blushes against his will then he gets mad that someone of a lower class is touching him. He changes his mind then that maybe he should be happy a young girl is hugging him, then his face twists in horror at the thought that she reminds him of his red-head friend. Then he looks at Yuuri.

Yuuri is about to blow up with laughter, his cheeks full of air bustling to come out. Gwendal frowns at Yuuri for finding humor in his situation, which in turn causes Yuuri to blow with laughter.

"What's so funny?" Niishi releases Gwendal, who staggers back from the strangely hyperactive girl.

Yuuri wipes his eyes with the back of his hand before he speaks up. "You looked as if you were having an intense battle with yourself in your head."

Gwendal shoots his best death glare at Yuuri, immediately silencing him.

Yuuri immediately bows his head, murmuring a quick apology.

"Thank you for the meal, Niishi." Gwendal bows to the teenager and exits the restaurant. Yuuri snickers to Niishi right before waving goodbye.

"OH! Yuuri!" Niishi runs up to Yuuri, grabbing his shoulder.

"Huh?" Yuuri turns to her with a look of surprise.

The young waitress walks right up onto Yuuri, wedging him between her and the door facing, and whispers in his ear, "Are you sure you're not gay because I think he has a thing for you? And he's hot!"

"WHAT!" Yuuri manages not to stutter from the closeness.

"He seems to be kind of overprotective of you, especially seeing the glare he's giving me now." Yuuri looks up to find the stoic man glaring death at Niishi.

"Oh, he's always like that." Yuuri sighs.

"Are you sure he's not in l-o-v-e with you?" Niishi pushes he body closer to Yuuri's, watching as Gwendal starts coming towards them.

"Pretty sure." Yuuri feels a hand tug at his shoulder.

"Heika, I think its best that we leave."

"Ok." Yuuri slips from between Niishi and the door, almost running to get away from the deranged girl.

Yuuri holds his breath as he looks between Gwendal and Niishi, who's giving each other death glares.

"Come on, Gwendal. Mom and Dad are probably waiting for us at home."

"Already taking him home to meet the parents?" Niishi hollers from her position at the door.

Yuuri, barely containing his rage, growls in frustration as he steps into the street. Gwendal, having won the battle of death glares, turns to follow the black-eyed teen, but his attention turns slightly to the left as he sees the headlights of the oncoming car barreling towards Yuuri.

Gwendal realizes he doesn't have time to shout to get Yuuri's attention; in a split second, Gwendal races towards Yuuri, grabbing him around the waist and dives out of the way of the car. He lands below the eighteen year-old, cushioning him from the impact of the fall.

"Heika! Are you alright?" Gwendal looks into his arms to find a shocked Yuuri in his arms, looking down at him with wide black eyes.

"Um...um..." Yuuri looks around, slightly disoriented as to why he's laying on top of Gwendal, virtually straddling his hips. Upon processing this information, he scrambles to his feet, blushing furiously. All he can think about is the muscular chest he was just against and the muscular arms that had surrounded him.

"Um, I'm fine. Thanks Gwendal." The young Maou puts out a hand to help Gwendal up off the ground. Gwendal grabs the hand and is pulled to his feet. "Thank you for saving my life. Geez, I don't know what I was thinking, crossing the street like that." Yuuri shakes his head in shame. "And to think I was telling you to be careful about where you walk."

"It's fine as long as you're uninjured." Gwendal dusts himself off.

"I'm good. What about you? Are you hurt? I can help you walk if you hurt your ankle or something." Yuuri places a hand on Gwendal's forearm; it is in that moment, they both feel a strange electricity go between them.

"I-I'm okay." Gwendal looks from where Yuuri has his hands to the sharp black eyes. In them, Gwendal can see confusion and fear; Yuuri had felt the strange exchange of energy and is confused by what is could mean.

"Good. Let's go home." Yuuri slowly removes his hand from the muscular arm, looking questioningly at it.

"Yes, Heika." Yuuri shakes off he strange feeling as he leads the two of them back to his home.

Opening the front door, Yuuri and Gwendal are greeted with the sight of Yuuri's parents holding and kissing each other on the living room couch.

"MOM! DAD!" Yuuri digs the heels of his hands into his eyes, trying to wipe away the image of his parents – like That.

Jumping apart quickly, Jennifer and Shibuya straighten themselves out as they stand up.

"Yuu-chan! You're home early." Jennifer asks blushing. Shibuya wraps an arm around Jennifer's shoulders as he sees Gwendal come in behind Yuuri.

"Yeah, Murata had to out of town this evening so I didn't hang out at his house." Yuuri flushes in nervousness, hoping Gwendal didn't see what he saw.

"Well, that's nice son. Who's this?" Shibuya nods at the long-haired man.

"Oh this is my friend, Gwendal von Walde. He's in town for a little bit so he's going to stay here."

"Ah, well then...nice to meet you. Welcome to our home Mr. Von Walde." Shibuya shakes Gwendal's hand as the former silently nods his concurrence.

"Are you guys' hungry? I made curry and rice for dinner tonight." Jennifer cheerfully says offers.

"We've already had dinner so I think I'll just prepare my room for us to sleep in."

"Do you need the futon Grandmother uses when she visits?"

"Yeah, that would great. It's more comfortable than my bed."

"Well, when you're ready for it, it's in Shori's old room, in the closet."

"Thanks Dad." Yuuri beams at his father. "Oh yeah, how was your trip?"

"Well, I think it was a success seeing as we got the account!"

"Well, congrats to you! I'm sure your boss will love that bit of good news."

"Thank you Yuu-chan. Shori didn't seem to care, but of course, he was busy."

"He's getting ready to go out of town."

"Saa, that makes more sense of his behavior. I thought he was disrespecting his old man." Shibuya chuckles lightly.

"Yuuri", comes a whisper from behind the Maou.

"Yeah, Gwendal?"

"Please excuse me but I must go to the toilet room."

"Oh ok. I'm just running my mouth. Uh Dad? I'm going to show Gwendal to the toilet. I'll be back in a few minutes." Yuuri motions for Gwendal to follow him.

"I know at Blood Pledge Castle, the bathroom facilities are a bit different from the facilities here. The toilets here work somewhat similarly to those in New Makoku; the difference is the flush lever which is a lever on the side of the toilet."

"Thank you Yuuri. I can figure it out." Gwendal says, glaring at how Yuuri is explaining everything to him like he's a baby.

Yuuri wave his hands in front of him, trying to wave off the glare Gwendal is shooting at him. "All right, all right. Just make sure you wash your hands when you're done."

"Yuuri..." Gwendal warns menacingly.

"I think you can handle this, sooo...I'm going to finish my conversations downstairs." And with that, Yuuri runs down the stairs as fast as he could, stumbling near the bottom. That man can be intimidating.

Gwendal watches the retreating form of the King, allowing himself a small smirk as he turns towards the bathroom. 'I should try to be nicer; he's only trying to help. But where has nice ever gotten me?' Gwendal's scowl reappearing, snuffing out the almost smile.

He locks the door behind him once he's in the bathroom. As he walks by the mirror, he pauses to examine his reflection; scowling at it, Gwendal pull the tie out of his hair, running his fingers through his hair. 'I really shouldn't be here; I don't have time for this. There are more pressing matters in New Makoku.' Sneering at his reflection, Gwendal stalks toward the toilet room.

Gwendal relieves himself after a slight struggle with the zipper on the pants; it would have been rather embarrassing had he not gotten the zipper down.

As he walks by the mirror on his way out, he reties his hair back, noting the increased softness and shine. He washes his hands, smirking at the fact Yuuri nearly tripped going own the stairs to get away from him. He walks out of the bathroom and heads for the stairs.

He slowly descends the stairs, but halfway down, his nose is assaulted with an unfamiliar, yet sweet scent. As he pads down the rest of the way, the sweet aroma grows stronger. He swallows feeling his mouth starting to water. When he reaches the living are, the only people sitting on the area are Yuuri and his father.

"Oh good, you're back." Yuuri says patting the space beside him. "Dad and I were just talking about you."

Gwendal sits next to Yuuri on the couch with his hands in his lap. He looks at Yuuri expectantly, hoping maybe to find out why he's the topic of conversation.

"You can relax Gwendal, we don't bite." Shibuya jokes. Gwendal slightly confused, softens his stoic expression, relaxing a bit.

Yuuri grins at his father's joke. "Anyways, we were just talking about what you do."

"So you're a military man." Shibuya confirms, adjusting his watch on his wrist.

"Yes sir, for...", Gwendal decides not to tell Shibuya he's been in the military for 134 years; it might cause suspicion. "...fourteen years."

"What branch and rank?'

"Branch?"

"Yeah, you know, Army, Navy..."

"I'm general of the ground troops and over the navy."

"Really? That's impressive! And you've been in for only fourteen years! Usually it takes twenty to thirty years just to reach that level. You must be very good at what you do." Shibuya shakes his head in amazement.

"I don't think it as a good or bad job I'm doing; it's a duty, my duty."

"You're so modest too!"

"I think you're doing a good job." Yuuri says over to the taller man with a blush hinting on his cheeks.

Gwendal looks over to Yuuri with an unreadable expression then he remembers Yuuri's words from earlier in the park.

Just smile and say thank you.

Gwendal doesn't necessarily smile but he does nod his gratitude to Yuuri.

"So Gwendal, are you married?" Shibuya asks sipping his evening coffee his wife had just brought him.

"No, sir." Gwendal shifts uncomfortably in his seat; it doesn't go unnoticed by Yuuri though; to his relief Shibuya doesn't continue on that questioning track.

"Yuuri says you have two brothers."

"They're half-brothers; we all have different fathers. My father died when I was very young, my younger brother's, Conrad's father, died when I was in my college days, and Wolfram's father died before Conrad's father died. Conrad's father, Dan Hiri, had gone left to take care of some unfinished business and left my mother; he came back, but soon died."

"How did they all die? Here in Japan, your mother would be a suspect for murder with that sort of track record!" Shibuya asks, shocked out of his wits.

"My father was killed in battle, Conrad's father died of old age, and Wolfram's father died of disease."

"It sound like there's a lot of year between you and your brothers."

"Quite a few."

"Are you close with them?"

"Somewhat."

"What do they do?"

"Do...?"

"You know, where do they work and things like that."

"They work with me. Wolfram is a soldier and Conrad is a lieutenant in the military."

"All military I see. So...how did you get caught up with Yuuri? It's odd that he has a friend that's as old as you or in your line of work."

Both Yuuri and Gwendal freeze for a moment as they try to come up with a good answer that didn't require a mention of toilets or being thrown from a horse.

But before they could come up with an answer, Jennifer walks out of the kitchen holding a plateful of hot chocolate chip cookies.

"I made some chocolate chip cookies! Eat up!"

Gwendal looks at the plate of freshly-baked cookies. "What are chocolate chips?" He asks quietly to Yuuri so as to not embarrass himself.

"Try one; they're good."

"So this is what I've smelled for the past ten minutes."

"Slow down Yuu-chan! Save some for the rest of us!" Jennifer scolds.

"But they're so good!"

"Thank you, but if they're 'so good', you should slow down and savor the flavor a bit longer than two seconds. Plus, if you eat too fast, you'll fat quicker."

"Aw, Mom!" Yuuri exclaims as she moves the cookies away from his reach. Holding the plate in front of Gwendal, Jennifer silently offers him a cookie.

Taking a cookie, Gwendal hesitantly takes a bite, chewing slowly to taste it completely. To his surprise, the cookie has the most pleasant taste he's ever tasted; he closes his eyes with a quiet moan that catches Yuuri's attention. Most of the time, he never eats anything sweet like this; it's usually fruit or some sort of sweet bread.

He finishes his cookie within a few minutes, wiping his mouth with the napkin Jennifer gives him. Yuuri stares incredulously at Gwendal, trying not to be affected by that little sexy moan of Gwendal's or by the look of ecstasy on his face.

"That was wonderful, Jennifer. Thank you." He states politely.

"No, thank you. Please have more."

"Oh I couldn't; I wouldn't want to take away from your family or..."

"Nonsense! I made them for you. If they wanted cookies, I would have made them get off the lazy bums and make them themselves. So eat all you wish"

"Thank you." Gwendal takes the liberty and takes a couple more cookies before settling back into his seat.

Yuuri chuckles beside Gwendal as he watches the tall man eat the cookies. "I would have never thought you had such a sweet tooth." Gwendal completely ignores Yuuri and bites into his cookie.

"Would you like a glass of milk?" Jennifer asks the stoic man. "It'll help wash it down."

"Yes please." Gwendal finishes off his last cookie, wiping the corner of his mouth with his napkin with closed eyes. He frowns at the crumbs on his shirt but wipes them off gracefully. He carefully folds his napkins and places it on the now empty plate. Jennifer comes in with a small glass of milk, handing to Gwendal who takes a small sip.

"Thank you."

Jennifer sits down beside the older man, glancing at Gwendal, then Yuuri, to Gwendal again. She opens her mouth as if to say something, but she stops and closes it. Jennifer watches as Gwendal shifts uncomfortably in his seat.

This time when she opens her mouth, she manages to say what she was going to the first time. "Yuuri really thinks highly of you though he sometimes complains about how grumpy you can be, but I can see that he's just over-exaggerating about you being grumpy. You are, by far, on of the most polite people I've ever met."

Gwendal raises an eyebrow as he looks over to the now blushing Maou. "He also thinks highly of your brothers too. When he comes home from baseball practice, usually soaked to the bone, might I add, he's always ranting about how happy he is when he's with all three of you."

"I wasn't away Yuuri knew your brothers too. How come I didn't know this?" Shibuya inquires of his wife.

"You're never home so I can talk to you about our little boys." Jennifer replies rather perturbed.

"We're not little; we're full grown adults." Yuuri points out exasperatedly.

"Yuu-chan! You'll always be my little boy", Jennifer claims tearfully.

"Aw, mom, don't cry." Yuuri sighs in resignation, knowing his mother is insistent on him being her little boy. "I'll always be your little Yuu-chan", he deadpans.

Immediately, she perks up, smiling big. "You call me mommy like you used to." Yuuri turns fourteen shades of red and tries to sink into the couch, trying to escape his embarrassing mother. Shibuya doesn't let this insanity continue.

"Honey, quit teasing Yuuri."

"I'm not teasing him. I just want him to have a little cuteness left since dirty, old baseball took all his other cuteness away."

"Mom!" Yuuri hides his face in his hands. Gwendal looks down at the flush king amused, but it only registers on his face as a blank look.

"Come on, Hon. Try not to embarrass him in front of his friend. I hear if you do that to your sons, they'll hate you for ruining their lives." Shibuya winks at Yuuri, promising a reprieve from anything else his mother can dish out.

Jennifer's face twists into a visage of horror. "Really? OH YUU-CHAN! I'm sorry. Don't hate me." Jennifer launches herself across Gwendal's lap to hug her youngest son; Gwendal jumps, holding his hands in the air, not really sure what to do with them. He gives Shibuya a pleading looks as if asking, 'Please, she's ON me. Please get her off!'

"I won't hate you mom." He manages to wheeze out from the tightened grip around his throat.

Shibuya shakes his head to himself and pries his wife from Gwendal's lap and Yuuri's neck. "Come on, Jennifer. It's getting late. We need to get to bed; we've got to get up early."

"Where are you going?" Yuuri says standing up, stretching his arms up causing his shirt to ride up, revealing smooth flesh and navel. Gwendal is mesmerized by the creamy, hairless skin in front of him; he has this nagging urge to touch it, run his fingers lightly over the warm flesh. Gwendal's internal musings are interrupted by Shibuya answering his son.

"We're going to visit your mom's parents for the next week." Shibuya says, distorting his face.

"Honey, don't say that with such distaste; you know you like my parents. You always enjoy hanging out with Dad, all the fishing trips you go on with him." Jennifer shakes her finger at her misbehaving husband.

Shibuya frowns slightly, understanding his wife is under the delusion that he likes to hang out with her overbearing, grumpy, and usually rude father. "Fine, all right. I'll stop complaining, but the first time he tells me I need to get checked for hemorrhoids, I'm going to hurt myself."

"You're so melodramatic Dad." Yuuri grins.

"We were hoping you would come with us since you haven't visited them in a while, but you have a friend here so we aren't going to make you come with us." Shibuya says putting an arm around his wife shoulder, smiling gently.

"Wow, as much fun as it sounds to be forced to wear a dress by Grandmother, I'll be glad to pass this good opportunity up." Yuuri sarcastically says, rolling his eyes. "But I hope you two have a wonderful time though." He gives his parents the cheesiest, toothiest smile he can muster.

"Thanks a lot, son." Shibuya murmurs. "Anyways we'll be back in a week. Try not to blow up anything."

"Hey!"

"Goodnight Yuu-chan", Shibuya musses his son's hair as he and Jennifer walk by to their bedroom. "Goodnight Gwendal."

"Goodnight Gwendal. Goodnight cute Yuu-chan!" Jennifer kisses her son's cheek causing him to blush furiously.

"Mom!"

"Don't forget to call me Mommy." She chides.

"Don't you think I'm a little old to be calling you 'mommy'?" Yuuri asks absently.

"What was that Yuu-chan?" She turns around, freezing Yuuri with a glare that could easily rival one of Gwendal's intense glares.

The king blanches visibly as he quickly waves by to his mom. "Nothing. Goodnight." His parents walk into their bedroom leaving Yuuri standing right beside Gwendal, who's still seated.

Sighing in relief, Yuuri sits down beside Gwendal once again. "I'm so embarrassed." Yuuri turns his head to look at Gwendal. "Are you ready to go to bed?"

"Only if you are, Heika."


	6. Chapter 6

I'm so sorry ya'll. My internet has been acting weird and I haven't had a connection in a few days, but I think I've fixed it. Anyways, the updates will hopefully come once a week. I'll try but this past week, I couldn't bring myself to write anything. No writer's block, just a sheer lack of motivation. But I'm back now! Maybe it's the lack of reviews that gets me down. This is the fic I wrote most on when I was evacuated for Hurricane Rita. Well, whatever... Here's the chappie:

Chapter 7

"Well, I'm ready to lie down and just relax; it's been a rather exciting day so I'm not sleepy. Plus its only 8:00; it's really early to go to bed."

"That's fine." Gwendal eyes the delicate features of Yuuri's face, noticing the deep shine of his obsidian orbs.

"Okay. Here's the plan: I'll put all the dishes in the sink and get the futon. Then I'll meet you in my bedroom after I'm done. Okay?"

"Yes, sir." Yuuri rises from the couch, gathering up the used napkins. Gwendal calmly goes upstairs.

As Gwendal waits patiently in Yuuri's room, he starts looking around once again at the items in the room. Looking on the wall beside the bed, there is a large poster of a baseball player swinging a bat. On another wall, there are shelve with books on them; underneath the shelves, there's a desk with large reference books and papers, along with another electronic device. It's the size of a sheet of paper, but about an inch think and has a blinking green light coming from it.

'The things in here are a lot stranger than anything Anissina could come up with, but they don't unnerve me like her contraptions do.'

The tall man walks around the small bedroom, touching random items like a Boston Red Sox baseball cap and a first place trophy for Little League baseball. Out of the corner of his eye, a dangling orange thing catches his attention. Suddenly he is completely fixated on the familiar object; as he moves closer, the object becomes more recognizable.

It's the kitty he made for Yuuri after he and the Maou were running together in the desert. The kitty is hanging on the zipper of his school messenger bag. Gwendal is almost shocked that Yuuri keeps it in his possession so closely; he allows himself to smile slightly before another object catches his attention.

Gwendal moves across the room to the top of the Chester drawer and picks up a framed picture of Murata, Yuuri, a long-haired girl, and a spiky-haired girl. They're all dress in evening formals. Gwendal can't help but notice how handsome both Yuuri and Murata look in their strange suits.

"What're you looking at?" Yuuri says as he strolls into the room, nearly startling Gwendal.

"This painting..." Gwendal says, still staring at it in wonder.

"Oh that? That's my senior prom picture." Yuuri places a small mattress on the floor and begins covering it with linens.

"Prom?" Gwendal raises an eyebrow at the word.

"Once every year, my high school would hold a ball for mainly junior and seniors and their date; they're really similar to the parties Cheri throws. All the students get dressed up in their tuxedos and formal gowns and take dates to the ball; it's a huge evening affair." Yuuri rests on his knees, taking a break from the futon preparations.

"Are their formal gatherings often?"

"Fortunately no; only the rich and famous can do that."

"Why 'fortunately no'?" Gwendal says as he picks up the photograph inspecting it.

"Getting ready for it is extremely stressful, mostly because the guys all have to ask a girl to with them, which is asking them on a date, completely nerve-wracking. And then you have to make sure you match the girl you go with because if you don't, it'll embarrass your date's 'special night'. You do all this dressing up, cutting you hair, slicking it back, and bathe yourself in cologne to spend a total of ten minutes dancing and an hour getting your picture taken once." Yuuri takes a deep breath after his mini-rant. "It's a complete waste of time, in my opinion."

"The prom sounds special to all the ladies of your school."

"To them, it's their debut into the world. It's their only chance really to show the guys of our school how sexy they are. For most guys, it's a night to...simply...get laid."

"Get laid?"

"Yeah...um...you know...have sex." Yuuri blushes at the word sex; internally he's trying to figure out why he's blushing like a school girl. Maybe it's because he thinks Gwendal has no idea what sex is and would want to know what it is. Yuuri's not prepared to have The Talk with someone who is 183 years older than he is; it's not right.

Luckily, Gwendal simple nods with a slight reddening of his cheeks. "So who are these ladies?" Gwendal asks curiously.

"They were our dates. The long-haired one is Tsutomu, she was my date, and the other one is Mokoto." Yuuri scowls for a moment at the memory of his one prom night, but no sooner had it crossed his face, it was gone; he returns to working on the futon.

Gwendal replaces the picture and moves to sit on the bed. "Did something happen between you and the girls?"

"It's nothing." Yuuri says in a tone that generally meant that he was ending the conversation.

Ignoring the tone, Gwendal continues asking questions. "What happened?"

Yuuri glares up at Gwendal, wondering why the usually quiet stoic man is all of a sudden so talkative.

"Your bed is ready. I'd rather not talk about it."

Gwendal falls to one knee, bowing his head. "Thank you Heika. Please excuse my rudeness for prying into your private matters."

"No, no. Stand up, please. That's not necessary. It's a painful memory I don't want to share." Yuuri motions for the other man to stand up. "Now, I need to get you some pajamas. What do you normally wear to bed?"

Gwendal scowls for a moment, and then turns his head away. He slowly places himself back on the bed.

"Did you hear me? I asked what you wore to bed."

"I heard you; I just wish to not tell you."

"Well you can't sleep in that, so you need to tell me what you wear to bed so I can steal some of Shori's old clothes for you."

'I guess it can't be helped.' Gwendal sighs and with reluctance he tell Yuuri what he wears to bed. "I...usually sleep in night pants and a long sleeve shirt."

"Whew, that's a relief! I thought you were going to say you sleep nude. That would be weird." Yuuri laughs despite his stupidity to the whole situation.

"I do."

"Eh? Y-Y-Y-You just said..." Yuuri stammers in embarrassment, red staining his cheeks.

"I said what I said to make you comfortable, seeing as we are sharing a room." Gwendal says in a matter-of-fact tome, folding his arms obstinately.

"Well...thanks for sparing me that scare." Gwendal huffs indignantly at Yuuri. "I'll be right back with some pants and a shirt."

In some ways, Gwendal is happy that he gave away such a personal thing about himself; it's almost a relief because it's like letting someone in on his dirty, little secret. But in the back of his mind, he feels uneasy about revealing something so intimate; it leaves him feeling vulnerable to ridicule and judgment.

He frowns at himself for being careless with his words; it'll only cause problems for him in the end. He clenches his fists tightly, digging his nails into his palm.

"All right, I found some pants that may fit...what's wrong? Are you feeling sick? That sometimes happens when you eat a lot of cookies." Yuuri bends down, trying to catch Gwendal's eye.

Gwendal takes a deep breath and tries to avoid doing the familiar motions of his knitting. Slowly, he relaxes himself until he's no longer angry and tense, just slightly annoyed. Exhaling his final deep breath, he finally looks up to find Yuuri about three inches from his face.

The Maou has a look of sincere concern on his face. Gwendal shifts uncomfortable at how close Yuuri is to his face; he can feel the king's warm breath cascading over his skin. Shuddering uncontrollably, Gwendal can't help but be mesmerized by the depth of the feelings he sees in Yuuri's eyes.

"Eh...Yuuri, what are you—"

"I never really noticed how incredibly blue your eyes are until now; like they're midnight blue." Yuri blinks a couple of times, suddenly realizing how close their faces are. He slowly moves back, standing up straight. "I found some pants and a shirt." He says as if he hadn't just looked like he was about to kiss the stoic man.

"Thank you. I'll go change in the restroom." Gwendal stands from the bed.

"You can change in here; we're both men." Yuuri says shrugging, handing the tall man his clothing.

"No thank you. These are your private chambers."

"...Ok." Yuuri looks puzzled, but shrugs again. He grabs the bottom hem of his shirt and tugs upwards, taking off his shirt.

Gwendal just stares at the lean, muscular form, blushing slightly from embarrassment.

"I-I-I'm going to go now." Gwendal's eyes continue to follow the shifts of Yuuri's baseball developed muscles as he picks up a t-shirt and pulls it on.

"Ok," Yuuri says either ignoring the stare or completely oblivious of the stare.

Gwendal's breath catches as Yuuri unbuckles his belt, letting his shorts fall low on his hips. He quickly tears his eyes from the tantalizing image and beelines to the bathroom.

As he looks in the mirror at his reflection, thousands of thoughts run through his head, but only one clearly stands out.

'Yuuri is pretty damn attractive. When I first met him he was much shorter and scrawnier. Now...' Gwendal cuts that thought off, hoping to curb the strange feeling snaking its way into his chest.

As Gwendal changes his clothes, he tries to clear any insolent thoughts from his mind, nearly failing until he remembered his old scar on his lower back. 'That's why I'm alone today, and that's why it must remain that way.'

Gwendal can tell his emotions are completely running wild. He places both hands on the counter on opposite sides of the sink, trying to concentrate on pulling himself back together. His heart has a dull ache, and he's looking at another man in a manner not conducive to his position. He's in a new world with strange new things, and he's with the Maou of his world.

The pressure of all that's happened to him in the last twelve hours begins weighing down on him. As he changes, his arms feel like lead as this undue stress hits him. It has been a while since he's been this out of control of his own life. It almost reminds him of Him...

All of a sudden, a knock interrupts his thoughts.

"Gwendal, are you done in there?"

"Just a moment." Gwendal pulls on the gray t-shirt, finishing the changing process.

"Okay because you've been in there for a little while."

Gwendal swings the door open to the bathroom to find Yuuri in black pajama pants and a green short-sleeved shirt.

"Are you all right? You've been acting strange since we got back from practice."

"I'm fine, just thinking." Gwendal gazes at Yuuri with his usual intensity. "Perhaps this whole experience has wound me up."

"Well, then let's get you unwound. Let's go to bed. In the morning, you'll be rested and fresh. All you have to do is relax."

Gwendal nods once as he brings the clothes he wore that day with him back to Yuuri's room with Yuuri close behind.

Yuuri pulls back his covers and lies down with almost a plop. "Ahh! My bed...it's been so long!" Gwendal merely looks on in amusement at the eighteen year-old's near wallowing.

Yuuri stops flailing about as he realizes his companion is staring at him with a hint of a smile on his face.

"Are you smiling?" Yuuri asks with a small allusion of the smirk growing his on his face.

Gwendal immediately loses any expression on his face as he realizes his mask is broken. He scowls at Yuuri as he gets into the futon, missing the sadness replacing the smirk on Yuuri's features.

Yuuri sits cross-legged on his bed. "Why don't you go ahead and smile?"

"I choose not to."

"Why?"

"Smiling shows weakness."

"Then you must think I'm incredibly weak. How can smiling show weakness?" Yuuri asks a bit perturbed.

"..." Gwendal remains silent, ignoring the question.

Yuuri decides to take a calm approach to this topic; clearly it is a touchy subject for the charcoal-haired man. Yuuri softens his voice. "Why is smiling a weakness? Please tell me..."

Gwendal rolls onto his side so he can see Yuuri a little better; he props himself up on one elbow. "People take advantage of those that smile and are nice."

"Only if you let them."

"Even so, people are manipulative. Sometimes they manipulate you without even knowing it." Gwendal levels his intense gaze on Yuuri.

Yuuri furrows his brow; then as if he just got an idea, he opens his mouth to speak, but shut it's quickly. He fidgets for a moment, tugging his blanket over him.

"What happened?" Yuuri says in a small voice, catching Gwendal off-guard.

"What?"

"What happened?"

"I don't understand."

"It seems like you have that opinion from experience."

"Don't be so sure of yourself." Gwendal sneers and rolls to his other side, his back facing Yuuri.

"Then why are you avoiding the question?"

Gwendal silently glares at a random spot on the wall, ignoring the question.

"It's bothering you."

"You're bothering me!" Gwendal snaps back.

Yuuri stares at the man in the futon sadly, empathizing with how unhappy the other is. "I'm sorry. I guess I was pushing too much again." Yuuri lays down in his bed, sighing wistfully to himself. In his mind, he just wants Gwendal smile and enjoy life, but because Gwendal has such heavy burdens on his mind, he won't be able to. The solution, Yuuri concludes, is to get whatever burdens Gwendal has, off his mind; everyone deserves a chance to be able to relax and enjoy life for once.

"Ne, Gwendal?" Yuuri lies on his back in his bed, arms folded behind his head.

"Hm?" He grumbles.

"You wanted to know what happened on my prom night, right?"

"Yes, but—"

"Tsutomu was an acquaintance of both Murata's and mine, Mokoto was her friend. We didn't know much about either one but we had seen them around school so we decided to ask them to prom. They accepted. It started out being a fun night; we took pictures and danced for a few hours. It was a good time."

"After we the dance, we went to Mokoto's house where we watched a couple of movies and hung out with them. It was going ok until halfway during second movie when Tsutomu asked me if I could help her make some punch. When we got into the kitchen, she tried to kiss me, which I didn't want to do. We were friends sort of; I wasn't looking for anything more."

"I pushed her away slightly saying I didn't want to kiss her. She came back at me trying to kiss me again. I accidentally pushed her hard and she fell backwards." Yuuri shakes his head slowly. "She got mad, I guess from embarrassment, and she started screaming at me about I'm not a normal guy to not take advantage of her on prom night. Mokoto and Murata came into the kitchen to see what happened. Murata tried to calm her down, but she would stop yelling."

"She tried to kiss me again. I just tried held her off and calmly told her I'm not interested in her 'like that'. She stopped attacking. She looked sad or let down, and asked me why I wasn't interested in her. I tried to think of the best thing to say so she wouldn't attack me anymore."

"I told her I was gay and she freaked out on me. She pulled a large knife out of the knife rack and threatened me with it, calling me a liar. Murata tried to stop her from cutting me or worse, he tried to tackle her but Mokoto held him back; I assume she didn't want him to get hurt. Murata ran off somewhere which I guess was to call the police. Tsutomu was crying and shaking."

Yuuri takes as deep breath, trying to keep himself from becoming too emotional. "She... tried to kill me. She kept jabbing at me and I kept dodging but I accidentally slipped on the floor and she cut me on my hip. After that my memory became hazy; I only remember hearing Murata shouting at me and the sight of my hands covered in blood. I had blacked out. The next time I woke up, I was in the hospital with my parents, Shori, and Murata hovering above me."

"They told me that I had lost a lot of blood and almost died."

Gwendal had a genuine look of shock on his face. Heika, the Maou, almost died on Earth. Nobody was here to protect him.

"Then they told me what happened to Tsutomu. She had...slit her wrists after she saw what she did to me. She wasn't herself when she attacked me. She died in the hospital later on."

"She killed herself." Gwendal can only gaze into Yuuri weary eyes.

"And it was my fault. I found out a little bit later that all of her boyfriends had broken up with her with the excuse that they were gay. Whether they were all gay or not is another story, but she seemed deeply traumatized but it and with me, I was just the icing on the cake." Yuuri seems to choke on his last words.

"You still remember that night as if it happened yesterday." It is a statement of understanding.

Quietly, Yuuri nods as he rolls onto his back, the sequence of the living nightmare replaying through his head.

"They said that she wasn't mentally healthy; she had been that way her whole life. They said she used to have delusions and hallucinations. It's really sad still."

Gwendal looks at the tip of Yuuri's elbow, that's all he can see, trying to imagine what Yuuri's face might look like as he talks about this horrible incident. He can only imagine being responsible for someone's suicide as Yuuri has taken upon that task.

"It's not your fault." He quietly mutters.

"Huh? Did you say something?"

"It's not your fault that she killed herself."

"I was the reason she got so upset. I shouldn't have said I was gay when I wasn't sure."

"But it was her choice to take her own life."

"I WAS A CATALYST! I LIED AND SHE'S DEAD! I KILLED HER!" Yuuri breaks down into tears, sobbing into his pillow.

Gwendal stares wide-eyed at him, regretting his decision to push the issue. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he knows he needs to comfort the crying teen. In all his life, he's almost completely inexperienced in other people's emotions, so comforting is not something he knows how to do very well. Taking a deep breath, Gwendal pulls himself off the floor and sits on the edge of Yuuri's bed. Hesitatingly, he places a hand on Yuuri's back and begins to rub small circles; he once saw his cousin, Huber, doing that to his own daughter and it seemed to soothe the baby.

Yuuri immediately tenses at the foreign feeling of the tall man's hand on his back. Never in his life would he ever think that Gwendal would be able to comfort anybody like he's doing but somehow it works. His sobs begin subsiding into small hiccups and sniffles. Gwendal looks down at the stilling man, still rubbing circles, and decides to say something comforting.

"You..You'll be fine, Yuuri. You're strong", he soothingly murmurs.

The Maou has stopped crying and is now just down to small sniffles to clear his head. Rolling partially onto his back, letting the hand linger on his side for a moment, Yuuri looks up at Gwendal with tear filled eyes with a small smile on his face. "Thanks."

Gwendal looks into the watery black eyes and his heart almost melts. In the murky depths of those eyes, he sees all of Yuuri's emotions wide open for him to see and understand. He can see the love he has for the three brothers, yet each of the love is different for each brother. His love for Conrad is like a warm summer's day while Wolfram's is like a thrilling baseball game. He doesn't understand the love that Yuuri has for him though. It doesn't seem as bright as the others, yet it somehow comforting to the stoic man. Gwendal almost blushes at the prone man on the bed, seeing him still looking at him.

Gwendal gives Yuuri a small smile as he slips back into his futon, settling in for the night. As he readies himself, he feels Yuuri's eyes trained on him. "What is it Heika?"

"Huh, oh...uh...nothing." Blushing Yuuri finally looks away from the taller.

"Then go to sleep." Gwendal lays his head down on the pretty comfortable pillow and slowly drifts asleep. The last thing he hears is a heavy sigh from Yuuri as he turns in bed for comfort.


	7. Chapter 7

Wow, I'm sorry that took so long. Personal issues happened but most is well now. I think I'll be able to update this once every two weeks because I have a lot on my plate these days. All those worried about Gwendal's story, it's coming up soon! I sure hope you don't cry during it. :snicker: Anyways...

Thank you to all those who have reviewed thus far; I really appreciate it. It makes me feel like the time I've used to write this story hasn't gone to waste.

Onward to the story!

Chapter 7

"Yuu-chan... Yuuuuuu-chan...Momma and Poppa are leaving. Wake up Yuu-chan!" Jennifer finally yells after whispering to her son.

Gwendal, the lightest sleeper in the world due to the military, bolts up wide awake. Blinking his eyes several times, he tries to focus.

"Huh?" He hears Yuuri mumble sleepily from the bed. Pushing his hair away from his eyes, he focuses on the direction of the higher-pitched voice coming from the door.

"Yuu-chan, come hug your Momma and Poppa. We're leaving in a few minutes." Jennifer says sweetly.

The tall Mazoku stands up from his futon, his long hair cascading down his back. Jennifer completely forgets about her son as she stairs at the muscular figure of Gwendal. Her mouth slowly drops open, jaw touching the floor, as she watches him stretch those muscles.

Feeling a gaze on him, Gwendal turns slowly to look at Jennifer, whose mouth is dragging on the floor. "Good morning, Mrs. Shibuya."

"Uh..."

"Mom, it's five in morning. It's too early to be...waking...up", Yuuri trails off as he sees his mom no longer fussing about him but staring at Gwendal while he stretches his arms upwards. Now, if Yuuri were much more awake, he wouldn't be staring the way he's staring. His eyes pinpoint the smooth, tan skin of Gwendal's stomach exposed by the lifted shirt; he can't help but think how cute, a word he would never really associate with Gwendal, his navel is. It's an outtie.

Gwendal deduces that somehow he is the cause of the tense silence that has fallen on the unusually quiet room; he looks at Yuuri, who seems to be in a daze, and then he looks at Jennifer, who's eyes are completely devoid of life. He scowls at the unwanted attention.

"Excuse me." He bows and walks out of the bedroom, brushing past Jennifer.

Jennifer merely nods her head, still gaping after the muscular figure as he walks by. As soon as he's out of earshot, she squeals, biting her fingernails in true fanatical fashion. "He's sooo cool!"

Yuuri blinks, the squeal bringing him out of his trance. "You should see him when he's... uh, fencing." Yuuri has to admit that Gwendal is incredibly hot, especially with bed head; in fact, the taller Mazoku was kind of cute when he woke up, stretching and yawn, much like a cat.

So Yuuri slaps himself across the face pretty, earning a strange look from his mother. "Are you... okay?" Jennifer says, very concerned about her son's mental state. Really, who just slaps themselves across the face that hard for no reason?

"I'm fine." He isn't. He just thought of the guy that used to scare him with a glare as hot and cute. Not before breakfast. Nothing good happens before breakfast.

"Are you sure? You look a little bit pale. I hope you aren't coming down with something."

"Really, I'm fine. I was just lost in my thoughts."

"You think he's hot too, huh?" Jennifer pokes Yuuri in his side and watches him blush a very vibrant red.

"MOM!" Yuuri can't believe his own mother would suggest something so... so... true? "What are you talking about? I... I need to go to the bathroom!" Yuuri doesn't give his mom a second thought and flees to the bathroom.

In Yuuri's morning routine, he wakes up, gets up, and goes to the bathroom. Nothing has changed in his routine; it's just a matter of someone else's routine overlapping, namely Gwendal's.

Yuuri flings open the bathroom door to find the toilet room door open and Gwendal standing over it, relieving himself. There is a two second delay between seeing Gwendal and processing the moment's events. The Maou freezes in his forward movement and stares at Gwendal while said man glares back.

Yuuri is the first to break the extremely awkward silence. "Oh my gosh, I am so sorry." And with the next beat, Yuuri spins on his foot and leaves the bathroom, slamming the door behind him. _Not before breakfast, damn it!_

Yuuri sprints downstairs to his parent's bathroom and uses it, Gwendal-free. _I can't believe I walked in on Gwendal using the bathroom. I should have knocked or something; I'm such an idiot._

"Yuuri!" He hears his mother call from outside of the bathroom somewhere. "Yuu-chan, hurry up and say goodbye to us; we're about to leave."

After washing his hands, Yuuri heads to the front door to where his parents are waiting for him. They seem to have already loaded the taxi with their belongings.

Jennifer and Shouma are standing in the doorway, smiling at their cute son who's rubbing his eyes sleepily. "So kawaiiiii!" Jennifer practically knocks him down when she jumps on him, hugging him tightly. A whole week of no glomping is something Yuuri decided he could definitely live with.

"... Mom... so... tight..." The demon king tries to gasp out before she kills him.

"I'm going to miss you so much!"

"Honey, I don't think Yuu-chan can breathe." Shouma worries quietly.

Apparently she didn't hear him because she continues to hug Yuuri until he's almost purple. When she finally lets him go, he collapses to the ground, breathing in the much needed air he was deprived of moments before.

"Yuu-chan, we left you an envelope on the counter in the kitchen with enough money for you to buy groceries and to have some fun with Gwendal since he's visiting. Some of the money can be used to buy Gwendal some clothes if he doesn't want to wear any of mine or Shori's old clothes. You have our cellphone numbers so you can reach us anytime. We should be back sometime on next Friday."

"Remember to lock the door when you leave the house. Please keep the house clean." Jennifer chimes in as Shouma wraps his arm around her. Yuuri stands up, breathing normally and back to his normal color.

"Good morning, Mr. Shibuya." Gwendal deep voice floats down the stairs, tickling at Yuuri's ears as Gwendal comes down the stairs dressed in the pants he had worn the day before and the gray t-shirt he slept in, tight against his chest muscles.

"Good morning, Mr. von Walde. I hope you slept well."

"Yes I did, thank you." Gwendal responds curtly, yet politely. He looks over to Yuuri who is avoiding his gaze with a massive blush covering his neck and face.

"I'm glad because Yuuri can snore pretty loud sometimes."

"DAD!"

"Anyways, we must be going. We have a long trip ahead of us, right honey? Jennifer?" Shouma looks down at his wife. She seems to be in a stupor as she stares at Gwendal. Shaking his head, he smiles at Gwendal with an apologetic eye. "Goodbye, you two. Please be safe." Shouma practically drags his wife away from the King and war strategist, waving as best he could with one hand.

"Bye, Mom and Dad!" Yuuri yawns from the doorway, waving sleepily. They watch as the taxi takes Yuuri parents away. Sighing audibly, Yuuri places a hand on his forehead. "Whew, my mom is scary." Suddenly the memory of him walking in on Gwendal using the restroom assaults him and he starts to blush furiously.

The tall Mazoku folds his arms across his chest and bows his head in agreement. "What do we do now, Yuuri?"

"Go back to sleep. It's too early to be up at this time."

"This is the time I usually get up."

"Really? This early, huh? Why?"

Gwendal merely looks at Yuuri in silence.

"Oh, well... What do you do this early in the morning?"

"Train."

Yuuri yawns and walks into the living room where he plops down on the sofa. "You're really devoted to the duties."

"It's all I have."

"No it isn't. You have Conrad, Wolfram, Sexy Queen, Gunter, and Yozak. You have me. You have all the people who respect you in the castle. You have more than you think."

Gwendal looks genuinely surprised at the not-so-sleepy speech the young king just made. For being so young, Yuuri is pretty wise.

Gwendal bows his head as he stands in the hallway, watching as Yuuri rolls himself into a ball. "Thank you, heika."

"Why don't you go back to sleep. Give yourself a day off; you work hard enough in New Makoku. You're in Japan... now. Relax..." Yuuri dozes off as he talks. Gwendal allows himself a small upwards turn of his lips as he drapes a blanket from the back of the sofa over Yuuri's sleeping form.

The tall man goes to the kitchen as his stomach his rumbling quite loudly. Looking through the cabinets he tries to find something to eat or drink, but he can't read any of the labels. In his search, he comes upon a big white box with handles on it. Grabbing one of the handles, he pulls hard enough to open it. A gust of cold air hits his arms as the light floods into the semi-dark kitchen. There are jugs of liquid and containers of food. He's never seen anything so confusing. Gwendal sighs as he closes the refrigerator door. He can wait until Yuuri is awake to eat.

So Gwendal walks back to the living room where Yuuri is sleeping on the couch. Looking down at the young king, he smiles gently at the sheer cuteness of the sleeping teen; Yuuri's mouth is slightly open as he snores lightly. Gwendal resists the urge to pet his hair by moving away to sit in the recliner at the other side of the sofa.

When he sits down a leans back, the chair starts to lean back and rock, startling the gentle stoic. Gripping the armrests of the chair tightly, Gwendal stiffens his entire body and waits for the chair to stop moving. Once the motion stops, Gwendal slowly relaxes his body to sit more comfortably in the chair, moving very carefully so as to not start the rocking motion once again.

Gwendal begins to think about his family and the people of the castle. He smiles a little as he thinks of how everyone would react to seeing him relaxing and smiling as he has in the past day. How amused they would be! Conrad would probably smile his small sweet smile while Wolfram would probably look at bit lost for words. Gunter would probably get him to have tea and strawberries with him while discussing how great the young king is. Cheri would probably hug him and waltz away as she normally would, exclaiming something about having less wrinkles in his forehead. Yozak would tease him relentlessly about becoming soft. And Anissina, Gwendal shudders at the thought of her name, would probably pull him from his relaxed, calm state to do some awful experiment resulting in injury to him.

Gwendal is so lost in his musings, he didn't notice he was falling back asleep. Before he realized, he is dozing in the recliner, his chin against his chest.

SLAM!

"Helloooo? Yuuri? Are you still sleeping, my lazy little brother?"

Both Yuuri and Gwendal stir at door slam and the voice bellowing through the house.

"Shori..." Yuuri yawns, stretching like a cat waking up. Gwendal opens his eyes and attempts to focus on the pretty pale yellow wall across from him.

_I fell asleep?_

Shori walks into the living room, looking suspiciously at the two waking men. "Oh there you are. Why are you sleeping down here? Did you and Gwendal have a wild party last night?"

"No", Yuuri says perturbed at his idiot brother. "We saw mom and dad off to their visit with Grandmother and Granddad." Yuuri rubs his face in a wide circle, ridding himself of sleepiness; Gwendal merely pops his neck.

"What time is it?" Yuuri flops back down onto the couch as tiredly tries to fall asleep after the present interruption.

"It's almost ten-thirty. My plane leaves in a couple of hours."

"So, why are you here?"

"Well, I was hoping to catch Dad so I could talk to him about an investment."

"You missed him."

With a flat-eyed look, Shori retorts, "I see that."

"So why are you still here?"

"..."

"Whatever; just leave me alone." Yuuri rolls onto his side, trying to force himself back asleep.

Shori looks at Gwendal with a questioning eye. "Did Yuuri make you sleep in that uncomfortable chair?"

Gwendal, in his normal manner, gives a solitary shake of his head as he folds his arms across his chest.

"Shori, we had slept in my bedroom until Mom woke us up and I suppose we fell asleep here after they left. It's all pretty hazy to me."

Chuckling while rubbing his chin, Shori walks towards the kitchen door. "Gwendal-san, you don't seem like the type to let down your guard and sleep in random places."

"Hm."

Yuuri finally sits up, completely annoyed at his brother. "Just do whatever you're going to do here and quit bothering me."

"Don't you have school today?"

"No, I'm staying with Gwendal while he's here."

"What is he? Your boyfriend?" Shori looks taken aback between the two of them, as if it weren't possible the two could ever get together.

"NO!" Blushing, Yuuri quickly tries to correct his brother while Gwendal hides his own blush behind a curtain of bangs. "He's my guest and I don't want to leave him alone."

"Why?"

"Because..."

"Because what?"

"Because... that's what a good host does."

Shori raises a single eyebrow, suspecting that Yuuri is leaving out something of great importance. To him, everything seems just a little bit suspicious. That gives him another reason to be wary of this older gentleman who's sleeping with Yuuri and spending time that he could be spending with his little brother. Never mind that fact that he has a business trip he's about to leave on.

"Ok Yuu-chan, but if I hear anything bad about Gwendal-san, I will make sure he pays."

Yuuri's face scrunches in confused annoyance. "What are you talking about? Gwendal is one of the gentlest people I've ever met. Sure he seems stern, but he's really a very caring person. He would do nothing to hurt me; in fact, he actually keeps people from hurting me on a regular basis. Duty or no duty, he's a great man and friend so please don't think or speak cruelly of Gwendal."

Gwendal looks up at Yuuri with the brightest blush covering his face and neck. Nobody has ever talked in such a way about him before. Nor has he been so embarrassed before, well, except for maybe that time he had to kiss Gunter's forehead to remove that cursed crown. But even then, he's always had to deal with Gunter's odd problems and Anissina's (shudder) magical solutions. But for this to come from his king, Shibuya Yuuri, it's completely different. It makes him lose his breath as his heart pounds quicker and louder than it has before. It puts an awkward feeling in his stomach that makes him... happy.

Yuuri looks over at Gwendal after he's finished his speech, a hint of pink touching his cheeks. He tosses him a small smile as if saying, "I meant every word I said." The eighteen year-old doesn't notice the speculating look he's getting from his brother.

"Whatever. I'm going to eat breakfast. What do you have to eat?" Shori continues into the kitchen without sparing a glance at the still red military man.

"I don't know. Don't you have your own place AND food? Quit eating all of our food!"

"Hmph..." Shori opens the refrigerator, ignoring his little brother, investigating the possibilities of breakfast.

"ARGH! He's so aggravating!" Yuuri says out loud to himself, pulling at his hair in both hands.

Gwendal sits quietly as he watches Yuuri pull his hair out. In some ways, he's a bit envious of him. Because of his personality, he won't allow himself to show his emotions as freely as Yuuri does. There have been plenty of times when he's wanted to yank and pull on his hair in frustration when he's at the castle, mainly when Gunter is breaking valuables in his worried frenzy or when Wolfram is acting like a brat.

A sudden, loud grumble of his stomach pulls Gwendal from his musings and envy, causing him to redden in embarrassment. Yuuri, who had stopped pulling at his hair, looks up at Gwendal surprised.

"Well, I guess it is time to eat breakfast." Yuuri pinches his lips together, sealing in the imminent laughter threatening to burst out.

Gwendal narrows his eyes menacingly at Yuuri as he tries to push down the blush. "Well, I suspect that we will join your brother in breakfast."

Yuuri almost laugh dissipates rapidly at the thought of having to join Shori in eating. At that moment, Shori comes walking from the kitchen with a piece of toast hanging out of his mouth and a bottle of orange juice in his hand.

"Phowwy, ah goddah goh." The spectacled man rushes through the living room and out of the door. The two leftover men sit staring at the door somewhat startled.

"He left." Yuuri says evenly. Gwendal nods in agreement. "Well, let's eat a good breakfast!" Jumping off the couch, Yuuri sprints to the kitchen and throws open the refrigerator door. Gwendal on the other hand follows slowly behind the black-haired teen.

"Ahhh, he ate the last of the bread. Well, I guess we can't have toast." Standing up straight all of a sudden, Yuuri pulls the milk from the refrigerator and slams the door shut. "We'll have cereal!"

"What's cereal?" Gwendal asks as he sits himself at the small kitchen table facing the energetic teen.

"Cereal, how do I explain it?" Tapping his chin, he walks to the pantry and retrieves two boxes with pictures on the front. "This..." Yuuri holds up one of the boxes, "...is cereal. It's one of the number one breakfast foods around the world. Here, try it."

Yuuri places the milk and the cereal boxes on the table in front of Gwendal and gathers the rest of the items needed for a decent meal of cereal and milk. He pulls a couple of bowls from a cabinet and a couple of spoons from the silverware drawer; he places those items on the table and sits himself across from Gwendal.

"Now, we have two kinds of cereals: the healthy kind and the not-so-healthy kind. This..." He holds up one of the boxes, "...is the wholesome, healthy Special K. This other box contains the not-so-healthy Honey Nut Chex."

Gwendal watches Yuuri's presentation with slight interest, as this is going to be his meal.

"Now, Honey Nut Chex is sweet and delicious, but Special K is better for the body. So, take your pick."

Gwendal, who is one to like sweet things, chooses the obvious choice. "I'll try the Honey Nut Chex, please." Yuuri's smile widens exponentially as he picks up the box of cereal; he feels he has just received the answer the greatest mystery of the universe.

As he pour Gwendal's bowl, he confirms his findings. "You like sweet things, don't you?" Yuuri pours his bowl of the same cereal.

Gwendal glares menacingly at Yuuri, but nods anyways. Looking down at his bowl Gwendal contemplates this cereal. It does look pretty appetizing, but is that all there is to it? "Yuuri, is this all to the cereal?"

"No, it would be too crunchy if you ate it like that. You add milk to it. You add enough milk to both soak in and make the cereal mushy or you can add enough to make it moderately wet yet leave it a soft kind of crunchy."

Gwendal looks at the Maou in confusion.

"Or I could add the milk for you and we'll see how you like it." Grinning nervously and a little bit embarrassed, Yuuri pours his advisor a sufficient amount of milk into his cereal. "Now, mix in the top cereal so they get wet too. And then eat!"

Gwendal picks up his spoon and does exactly what Yuuri said to do; he mixes in the cereal with the milk and takes a bite. After chewing the bite, Gwendal's eyebrow twitches when he looks up to find Yuuri staring at him anxiously.

"So?" Yuuri says excitedly, nearly jumping out of his seat.

Gwendal twitches again but not in annoyance, but perhaps in amusement. "It's good." Yuuri anxious smile becomes one of pure happiness and he digs into his own bowl of Honey Nut Chex.

As they eat, both of their thoughts are running rampant through their heads: Gwendal's consisting of the cereal and Yuuri's consisting of how Gwendal looks when he first awakes in the morning. Gwendal, on one hand, is having a problem grasping the concept of cereal: it's a small compact meal that even the youngest child can put together, yet it's full of great flavor and the sweetness... oh, the sweetness. And Yuuri can't seem to get the image of the slightly ruffled, sleepy-eyed stoic out of his head.

"Yuuri?" Gwendal pauses in his eating to find out what's wrong with the Maou; he doesn't necessarily like the look Yuuri's giving him, if he even knows he's giving it at all.

Yuuri snaps out of his trance to realize that he was staring dreamily at Gwendal with his mouth gaping open and his tongue practically hanging out. "Uh... eh, excuse me!" Yuuri dashes out of the room to his parent's bathroom, leaving a somewhat confused Gwendal staring at his empty spot. He raises an eyebrow at the strange teen and silently goes back to eating.

In his parents' bathroom, Yuuri is having a tough time dealing with the strange thoughts running though his head about his long time advisor. Maybe it's because he's never seen his very formal, stern advisor any less than just that, stern and formal. He starts hitting himself in the head as soon as the thought, 'maybe it could be more', runs through his brain.

"Get a hold of yourself, Yuuri! You're just new to Gwendal being out of his normal area. I mean, you've seen him with his hair down before, right? Have I seen him with his hair down? I don't think I have. SEE? It's just new. It'll pass as time goes by. You'll get use to seeing him out of his element and then, and then you'll be fine. Right? Right. All right, Yuuri; pull yourself together, man!" Patting his cheeks, Yuuri shakes his head like a boxer would, working themselves up for a fight. "Be strong and do your best."

Yuuri takes a deep breath as he places a hand on the door knob. Stepping out of the restroom, he calmly walks back into the breakfast to find Gwendal drinking the last of his milk from the bowl. The long haired man looks up to find Yuuri staring at him with a bright blush covering his cheeks. He quickly gulps the milk down and places the bowl back on the table with a blush to make the king's.

"Excuse me. I just did what the people on the box did. Heika?" Gwendal doesn't realize that Yuuri's staring at him because of the cute little milk mustache that's gracing his upper lip.

"So cuuuuute..." Yuuri sighs absently. As soon as it leaves his mouth he clamps both hands over his mouth, his eyes widening to the size of large Maou manjuu. He just can't seem to stop himself.

"Yuuri-heika, is there something wrong?" Receiving an energetic shake, Gwendal pins Yuuri with his patented annoyed glare. He reaches for a napkin which is on a pile in the middle of the table. He dabs at his mouth, removing any stray food or milk from his lips including the milk mustache. Looking up at Yuuri again, Gwendal stares at the more relaxed looking teen. "Are you going to finish eating?"

Frantic nodding.

"Hm." Gwendal rises from the table picking up his bowl and spoon and places it in the sink in the kitchen. He sits back down at the table where Yuuri is eating his bowl of cereal with his head down, avoiding the taller man.

"Are you sure there's nothing wrong, Yuuri?"

Yuuri gives a pitiful nod.

"Did I do something?"

"It's just me."

Gwendal folds his arms across his chest as he leans back in the chair, studying Yuuri's state. Right as he's opening his mouth to ask if there's anything he could do, Yuuri intentionally interrupts him, changing the subject.

"Let's go to the beach!"


	8. Chapter 8

Wow! I'm feel bad for not updating in a month, but I can't say it's my fault. Blame it on my body. It kept getting sick ever Tuesday of April and stayed that way until Sunday. All the way up to now. I suppose that's a good thing.

Anyways, I have the next chapter ready; I'm just going to wait to post it. None of these are beta'd so any mistakes I may have missed, please excuse them.

Enjoy!

Chapter 8

Gwendal nearly jumps at the outburst. "Pardon?"

Yuuri lowers his head and eyes in shame for his inappropriate behavior. "Let's go to the beach. I don't really want to stay in the house all day so let's do something fun outside."

"How is the beach fun? Isn't that where boats and ships are loaded?"

Looking up a little less embarrassed, Yuuri's energy increases. "No. We have ports and docks for that. The beach is where people go to relax, swim, play, and get some sun so they aren't pasty white like me."

To Yuuri's surprise, he watches as the rarely seen dimples in Gwendal's cheeks start sinking in as the usually tense brows relax into an upward position, signaling a smile playing on his lips.

Yuuri gives a small half small as he realizes that Gwendal is doing his version of laughing at him. "Don't laugh Gwendal!" Gwendal's mouth widens into small grin. Yuuri huffs in his seat feeling mildly annoyed that Gwendal's laughing at him; in another part of his mind, Yuuri feels privilege to be one of the few who gets to see the tall Mazoku nearly laugh.

"Anyways, the beach... it's a pretty day outside, especially since it's bordering on autumn. It's not hot, it's not cold. It's just right. Now if we go to the beach, it would be too cold to get into the water though I'm sure some of those surfers will still be out there." Yuuri rolls his eyes at the thought of people purposefully going out into cold water in the name of extreme sports.

"Surfers?"

"Yeah, surfers are people who take a specially-made board and paddle themselves out away from the shore; when they find a good spot, they wait until a good size wave is coming towards them. Then when the wave is pushing them back towards shore, they stand up on the board and ride the wave. They can do tricks, but from what I've seen, it just looks like they are just practicing a fancy way of falling. But that could just be the surfers I've seen when I go to the beach."

"And they find this enjoyable?" Gwendal's stoic expression is back, almost as if he's deep in thought about this surfing.

"I suppose. Surfing is an extreme sport so I guess it's a thrill for some because there's always a risk that you would break a bone or drown. In several cases, people have been bitten by sharks while surfing." The young king shrugs his shoulders nonchalantly as he dips his spoon in the bowl to get more cereal. "I suppose that would be a thrill trying to avoid sharks."

The long-haired man sits forward, placing his elbows on the table. "Sharks aren't friendly creatures here?"

"No! They're mean and hungry. We have a shark called the Great White that if it smells blood in the water, it'll come around and eat whatever is bleeding. They aren't friendly creatures!"

Gwendal merely nods. "So what are we going to do at the beach?" He can't help but feel somewhat excited as Yuuri's eyes sparkly with excitement.

"We could picnic and play some beach volleyball, maybe lie out and take a nap though we shouldn't sleep for too long because we might get sunburned. Those are quite painful." Yuuri is nearly jumping out of his seat with anticipatory excitement.

"Beach volleyball?"

"I'll explain it to you once we get to the beach. So, do you want to go?"

Sighing, Gwendal responds, "I suppose."

The excited teen jumps up from his seat with his hands in the air in victory. "GREAT! Now, we need to prepare quickly and maybe we can catch the 11:30 train to the coast." Yuuri starts tallying on his fingers what they have to do before they can leave. "We need to make a picnic basket, but we could pick up some bentos at the store. We need to get into beach clothes. We'll need sunscreen and a blanket to sit on, and definitely something to drink. Hmm... I think that's it." Counts quietly on his fingers the to-do list he just made.

The older Mazoku watches Yuuri with interest as to how going to the beach to relax will play out. The only times he's ever been to the beach was to board a ship or unload a ship. In fact, relaxing anywhere is a rare occasion. He remembers the days he spent at the old manor when he was a young man, but those days were constantly filled with studies and training. There wasn't much relaxation then until he met that person...

"Come on Gwendal, we have to get dressed!" Yuuri's energy nearly makes the blue-eyed Mazoku tired.

"Yes, sir."

"Don't call me sir! My name is Yuuri." Yuuri chides the older man, frowning a bit. Sometimes he wonders if it runs in their family to be incapable of saying his correct name: Konrad with heika, Wolfram with wimp, and Gwendal with sir.

The stoic man nods as he rises from the seat. "May I give some assistance to you in the kitchen?"

"Eh, no. It won't take long to clean it. If you want, you can wait in my room. I'll be up in about five minutes."

Gwendal contemplates his decision for a moment as he watches Yuuri go about doing the dishes. He watches as Yuuri makes the dishwater and him putting the two bowls and spoons in the water. He begins to wonder if any other king had to do their own dishes. Suddenly Gwendal catches Yuuri's eyes.

"Gwendal, you decided to wait down here for me?" Scratching on of his eyebrows, Gwendal sees that the younger man left soapsuds on his forehead.

"Yes, I did. Yuuri, you have some soap on your forehead." Looking pointedly at the teen's forehead, Gwendal swipes some of his bang away from his eyes.

The teen blushes with embarrassment to Gwendal's chagrin; ever since he had met the young demon king, he always thought the black eyed boy was somewhat cute, especially when he wasn't doing or saying something idiotic. Unfortunately, the boy grew up just a little and Gwendal has found him to be a rather handsome young man.

"Thanks." Gwendal tilts his head slightly to the right in acknowledgement. Yuuri looks around the kitchen to make sure he's gotten all the dishes that they dirtied; grinning like a mad man, he loudly declares, "Let's get ready to go to the beach!" Gwendal would have cringed at the yelling, but that would be out of character to him.

Yuuri leads the way up the stairs and back into his bedroom. Stepping over the futon on the floor, Yuuri makes his way to his closet. Gwendal sits on the bed to stay out of the teen's way.

"All right after I get dressed, we'll get you dressed; while you're dressing, I'll gather all the necessary supplies for the beach, and then... We're gone!"

Gwendal rubs his temples with his fingers, trying to relieve the small headache he feels building. "Hei-, Yuuri, would you mind not shouting, please?"

"Eh? Ah! I'm sorry, Gwen. Sometimes I just get so excited..." The black-eyed man clasps his hands over his chest, worried that he was annoying Gwendal and possibly putting him in a bad mood. _How stupid can I be? Mom even told me not to yell in the house! _

"It's all right. I just have a dull headache." He puts Yuuri at ease with a miniscule smile. The younger man still looks worried though.

"Would you like some medicine to get rid of it?"

"Medicine...?" _They have medication to relieve headaches?_

His shocked expression must have given away his thoughts because Yuuri walks to his desk and rummages around in there, abandoning the closet. "We have medication for just about anything here. Since nobody uses magic here, we had to find ways of healing people. We have medication that gets rid of pain, medication that puts people to sleep safely, medication to do just about anything."

After rummaging for a few moments, Yuuri comes up with a little white bottle. "This is aspirin. It's a pain killer." Pouring a couple of pills into his hair, Yuuri hold his hand out for Gwendal to see. "If you take two of these your headache will be gone in a matter of about an hour. All you have to do is swallow them whole."

Gwendal looks up skeptically at the younger man. It's not logical that these two little pills would be capable of ridding him of his headache.

Yuuri sighs impatiently. "This is what I took to help relieve some of the pain of... my wound."

Gwendal's heart thuds painfully in his chest as he hears the last statement from his Yuuri. He now realizes that Yuuri probably doesn't like talking about that incident. He takes the pills from the younger man and pops them in his mouth...

"You have to swallow them without", Gwendal crunches into the small pills, making a face at the horrible taste, "...chewing. That's disgusting isn't it?"

Gwendal nods as he painfully continues to chew and tries to swallow the now powder in his mouth.

"I'll go get you some milk so you can wash it down and get rid of that taste." Gwendal painfully swallows again, his facing scrunching into one of pure disgust.

Yuuri takes off out of his room and down the stairs as he races to get the milk.

Meanwhile, Gwendal is having a problem wondering how when someone is in pain, they can handle eating those foul pills every time.

"Gwendal, I have your milk and a cookie to get rid of the taste!" He hears Yuuri calling from the stairs. He listens as the light trample of feet on the ground gets closer and closer. Yuuri kicks the door open, which had partially closed when he ran out in an attempt to shut it.

He walks over to the taller man who is sitting quietly, frowning intensely, on the bed. He hands him the glass of milk and a napkin with the cookie on it. Gwendal immediately takes a couple of gulps of the milk, washing down the pills away, as Yuuri squats in front of him, watching him intently. He takes a deep breath as most of the pills are dissolved and slip down his throat, ridding him of most of the awful flavor that nearly forced him to become ill. He takes a bite of the cookie, pleased that Yuuri was thoughtful enough to bring something so delicious to cover up and erase the memory of the vile substance from him mouth.

"Thank you, Yuuri." Gwendal finishes his cookie and milk looking much better in color.

Yuuri nods as he takes the glass from the older man. "I probably should have told you before I gave you the pills that you swallow them whole and don't chew them, right?"

Gwendal purses his lips and raises an eyebrow at the obviously good idea. Yuuri gives a nervous smile as the other glares at him from above. He stands up and begins to walk to the closet to get his clothes he going to wear for the day; suddenly Gwendal grabs his arm, effectively stopping the young king.

"I'm sorry, Yuuri. It was my fault for not listening before eating the pills. Please forgive me for my attitude." Gwendal's eyes are hooded by his long bangs, his head bowed in respect.

"Ah, it's okay. Please don't worry about it. It's a simple mistake. You're new to this world so don't apologize. It's all right." It's then that Gwendal realizes that Yuuri is the most understanding person he's met in his many years of living. _If Yuuri is this understanding when I'm still new to this world, I must have treated him horribly when he was new to my world. He was so confused and scared and I didn't give him a chance to understand the situation. I simply assumed he wasn't good for the kingdom from his ignorance._

Yuuri turns as he feels Gwendal's grip on his arm starting to tremble. "Gwendal?"

Gwendal's eyes stay shadowed by his bangs; Yuuri looks concerned at the tall Mazoku. "What's wrong? Are you feeling sick? Sometimes there are warnings about chewing pill like that when they're supposed to be swallowed. Do you need to go to the bathroom?" Gwendal silently shakes his head.

Yuuri begins thinking about what could be wrong especially if it's not his stomach. _Did I say something wrong? What did I say?_ _Oh..._

Placing his free hand on Gwendal's hand, he crouches to where he was moments ago. "Gwendal... it's all right. I think I understand. You've changed since then. It didn't even bother me at the time so don't let it bother you now. I know you wouldn't treat someone like that anymore."

Gwendal slowly looks up to find Yuuri quite near his face, but he doesn't jump or flinch because he's in too much shock to react. _How did he know?_

Yuuri gives him a small reassuring smile and small squeeze of his hand that's still clutching his arm. "Really, don't worry. Everything's fine now." Gwendal nods minutely before releasing the not-very-tight grip he had on Yuuri's arm. "I'm going to pull out my clothes and then we'll find you some clothes to wear."

"What does one wear to the beach?" Gwendal asks as he watches Yuuri fling clothing from his closet to the bed.

"Well, since most of everyone goes to the beach to swim, people usually their bathing suits: women in bikinis and one piece swimsuits and men in swimming trunks, boardshorts, or Speedos. But on cooler days like today, people go to the beach dressed relatively casually, usually in short and shirt. It just depends on the degree of heat."

"Bikini? Speedo? What are those?"

Yuuri holds up a pair of khaki cargo cutoff shorts; he tosses them onto the bed along with a black sleeveless shirt he had thrown out earlier. He starts digging around in a drawer for other items he needs to complete the ensemble.

"Oh, well, they... um... their basically underwear made for swimming in; their very similar to the thongs we wear as underwear in New Makoku."

Gwendal looks completely appalled at the fact that people wear their underwear out in public, shamelessly flaunting their bodies without discretion of what others would think of them. Then he asks the question that nearly chokes Yuuri. "Do you wear a Speedo?"

"Oh gosh, no! I'm not that confident in my body to wear that, plus I sunburn pretty easy." Yuuri pulls out some footies, those socks that only cover the bottom of your feet. "There! Let's go get you some clothes and then we'll be ready to go as soon as you're ready. I think I know what you should wear, but we'll have to pull from both Shori and my dad's closets but you'll be comfortable." Yuuri tosses the ball of socks onto his bed as he heads out of the room with Gwendal in tow.

Yuuri leads them into the office which is right next to his bedroom and to the closet. Opening the closet, they see that there are mostly Shori's pants that he didn't want to bring with him when he moved out. Most of them are chinos though there are a few pleated khakis in the mix.

"Mmmm... I wonder what size you wear..." He pulls a couple of pants off the rack and looks at them, determining whether they would work for Gwendal. "Shori always complained about these being too big for him so they might fit you perfectly." Yuuri hands the tall Mazoku the flat-front khakis. "If you wait right here, I'll run down to my dad's closet and get a shirt. Feel free to try the pants on while I'm out. I'll knock on the door to let you know I'm back." Yuuri hurries out the door without letting Gwendal respond.

Gwendal raises an eyebrow at the door that was just slammed, then at the khakis. _He must like going to the beach._ Pulling down his night pants, Gwendal starts to put on the khaki pants. In the process of pulling on one of the legs, he accidentally stumbles forward, tripping himself on the pants leg. He catches himself before he falls and completely embarrasses himself; he finishes putting them on as the excited knock is heard.

"Gwendal, are you decent?"

"Yes."

"All right, I'm coming in!" Yuuri sticks his head into the room before bringing his entire body into the room. He freezes all movement when he sees Gwendal wearing the khaki pants nice and tight around the hips and rear. The tight t-shirt the man is still wearing from the night before add to the tight effect of the whole outfit. Yuuri can't keep himself from gaping openly at his strategist.

"Is this okay?" Gwendal inquires from the dumbfounded teen. _Why do people keep staring at me?_

Snapping out of his gaze, Yuuri clears his throat and finally responds. "They seem to fit very well... eh hm... well. Here's your shirt." Yuuri gives Gwendal the shirt as formally as he could, bowing as he leaves the room once again. As he leaves, the tall Mazoku gives Yuuri a look of concern; the teen is acting rather strange, in his opinion.

Yuuri rushes to his room after leaving Gwendal alone in the office. Slamming the door, Yuuri crumples against it as he heaves a deep breath. Never in his life had he ever thought that pants on a guy would make him lose his breath and sanity. To him, life just became unfair. He has to live with one of the most handsome men he's ever met until they find out why Gwendal was sent to Earth.

Rubbing his eyes furiously, Yuuri takes a couple of deep breaths to calm his racing heart and thoughts. After composing himself, he strips down to his boxers and puts on his shorts letting them sling low on his narrow hips. As he's pulling on his shirt, namely where the shirt is covering his head and he can't see anything but the inside of said shirt, Gwendal opens the door to the room. Yuuri freezes in place.

"Gwendal?"

All he can hear is a small choking sound and the door closing. _What was that? _Pulling the shirt all the way on, Yuuri finds that Gwendal is not in his room to his relief. Yuuri is beginning to feel self-conscious about his body now that he's gotten a good eyeful of Gwendal's. _Maybe I should start working out more..._

Opening the door, he finds Gwendal leaning against the wall looking somewhat flush. "Are you okay? I heard you open the door to my bedroom a few moments ago. Did you need... something?" Only then does Yuuri look at the rest of Gwendal.

Seeing the quiet man in a long-sleeved white dress shirt and khaki pants, Yuuri feels his heart skip about nine beats. _He's so cool!_ To Gwendal's credit, he left the top two buttons open on his shirt, revealing hairless, tan skin, effectively making Yuuri's knees weak.

"You look... uh, you look..." Yuuri stops as he sees Gwendal flip his hair out of his eyes. "Ahhhh..."

"Speak up, heika." Gwendal is getting tired of Yuuri staring at him like that' he feels like he's put of the spot.

"You look... hot. I mean, you look great, like you're ready to go to the beach!" Yuuri panics at his choice of words. _I'm such an idiot. My only hope is that he doesn't know what hot means._

"Hot? Is that a good thing?"

"Yes! Well, I'm going to gather the rest of things we need for the beach. Just have a seat somewhere."

Gwendal nods his assent as he watches Yuuri leave from the room; walking around the small room, Gwendal begins exploring it once again. He walks back to the bookshelf and pulls off a book; he opens it to find it's a picture album full of pictures of Yuuri as he's growing up until the most recent years.

The first picture of Yuuri is when he's in the bathtub in his swimming trunks, playing in the water. The young child looks so happy and carefree, much like he is today. Gwendal feels the familiar tug on his heart as he sees the complete and utter cuteness that is Yuuri. His lips twitch into a small tiny smile as he goes through each picture: Yuuri, at one, wearing his first baseball cap, so large that it covered his eyes, Yuuri, at two, holding a plastic bat and wearing the same cap as before in his cute overalls, Yuuri, at three, wearing a baseball mitt as large as his head. Gwendal notices in all three pictures that Yuuri has the same smiling, happy face in all of them; it's a sweet face, one of innocence.

He keeps turning through the pages until he comes across a picture of Yuuri holding up his arm in a strange casing, smiling as bright as ever, missing his front two teeth. _He must have injured himself, yet he's still happy and cheerful._ He flips a little deeper into the photos, to the photos of Yuuri in his middle school uniform, a little blue and white sailor outfit, holding up what looked to be a kitten. It's another picture that Gwendal can't help but almost smile at; there's just so much cuteness. He begins to think how nice it is that Yuuri's smile hasn't changed since when those pictures were taken.

Flipping through more of the pictures he comes upon a couple of pictures of Konrad, Wolfram, Gunter, and other people of the castle. There are even a couple of pictures of himself from a distance, looking rather annoyed. He begins to wonder how Yuuri could have gotten that picture of him without him knowing.

After flipping through the photo album and experiencing in a span of about ten minutes, all eighteen birthdays or Yuuri and every baseball game, Gwendal replaces it on the shelf as Yuuri returns to the room.

"All right, Gwendal! I think we're set to go." Yuuri holds up a backpack bulging with all sorts of items Gwendal has never seen.

"Okay, Yuuri. I have one question before we leave concerning the picture tablet."

Yuuri squints his eyes in thought, trying to figure out what a picture tablet is. Gwendal pulls the album off the shelf, looking at Yuuri for a sign of understanding. Luckily, Yuuri smiles and nods knowingly at the taller man.

"How did you manage to get a picture of me without me knowing?"

"Oh, well to get the picture we use what's called a camera…" Looking around his room, he spots his thin camera and picks it up. "The camera is what takes these pictures and I took those pictures of you from far away so I wouldn't disturb you."

"Oh…"

"Thanks for bringing up the camera because that's something else we can bring with us to the beach." Yuuri puts the camera up to his eye and snaps a quick picture of Gwendal before sliding it into his pocket. Gwendal temporarily blinded by the flash, blinks rapidly to clear his eyes. Narrowing his eyes, he frowns at the mischievous king.

"What did you just do?" Gwendal inquires in a dangerous tone.

"I took a picture. Would you like to see?" Sliding the camera from his pocket, Yuuri turns the camera on and shows the taller man the picture he just took of him. "Later, when we get back, I'll print this up and add it to my album."

"Your technology is, by far, superior to that of my world. I don't understand how you can tolerate ruling over a people so simple."

"It's just that. I like the simplicity of your world. It's everything this place isn't. Plus I really love the people." Yuuri shrugs as he slides the camera back into his pocket. "Let's get moving so we don't have to wait for the next train. The beach is about an hour away from here." Yuuri zips up the backpack which has a couple of beach towels, sunscreen, and various other items in it.

Yuuri motions for the older man to leave his room first as he grabs his black visor and his keys. Following Gwendal down the stairs to the front door, they both slip on their shoes, Gwendal in his track shoes and Yuuri in flip-flops. Yuuri locks the door behind them as they leave.

The walk to the platform is relatively quiet except for the occasional 'What's that?' question from Gwendal and the response from Yuuri. Finally after ten minutes of walking, they climb the stairs to the platform; few people are waiting there besides them. After fifteen minutes of comfortable silence, mostly due to Gwendal's nature, the train arrives and they get on.

Sitting beside each other, Yuuri and Gwendal are forced to basically huddle together as the car they're in is jam-packed. When the train starts moving, Gwendal nearly jumps from his seat, startled at the sudden movement. He calms down soon enough as he sees that Yuuri isn't affected by the motion.

Looking down at Yuuri, Gwendal unconsciously begins studying the youth's profile, noting that the black-eyed young man has very soft, almost feminine features; the round-tipped, small nose, the nearly flawless skin, the big eyes, and the pout-y, pink lips. To the older Mazoku, Yuuri is as pretty, if not prettier, than a girl.

Out of the corner of his eye, Yuuri notices Gwendal staring at him. If he weren't so nervous around the older man, he would have just looked over and smiled. Yuuri simply starts to fidget in his seat, clicking his fingernails. In some ways, Yuuri guesses that it's all right that Gwendal is looking at him, but what of it? Why does Gwendal stare at him? He's known him for three years, seen him naked (not willingly on either parts), and have worked together; why does it seem that Gwendal is just know getting looking at Yuuri?

Yuuri, already a skittish person around the stoic Mazoku, starts to sweat under the gaze. _How do I make him stop staring? It's unnerving, creepy!_ And with a stroke of inspiration, he solves his problem; he reaches into his backpack and pulls out what looks like a leather wallet. This, fortunately, catches Gwendal's attention. Upon opening it, he presses a button and a light comes on.

"What is this device, Yuuri?" asks Gwendal, as he watches the young king navigate the device with his thumb on the circular pad.

Yuuri holds up the leather-clad device. "This is an iPod."

"I – pod?"

"Uh huh! It plays music." Placing the earbuds in Gwendal's ears, Yuuri turns the volume down to a comfortable level and begins to play Gekkoka by Janne de Arc. Gwendal jumps at the sudden music flowing into his ears. Yuuri watches as the look of surprise gives way to one of wonder.

The only music Gwendal has ever heard is the orchestral type pieces reminiscent of the Mozart and Bach in New Makoku. _This new type of music which combines different sounds along with that of the orchestra is relatively interesting._

"You have other instruments other than violins and violas?" Gwendal says loudly over the music, causing the other passengers of the train to look at him strangely. Yuuri blushes and quickly turns it down. Gwendal gives him a look of apology, his cheeks tinting red slightly.

"Yeah. There are tons of instruments; there are instruments specific to certain countries and areas because they originated there. Like here in Japan, we have the shakuhachi flute while Germany and the west invented the concert flute. We also use electronics to create instrument sounds. We just have a wide array of options." Gwendal nods understandingly at his king.

Yuuri turns the music up once again. Gwendal looks forward, listening to the strange sounds Yuuri calls music. He so engrossed in the music that he doesn't realize he's tapping his foot along with the beat. Yuuri, on the other hand, does notice, but smiles to himself, beaming at how different Gwendal is in his world.

The two men relax as the train takes them to the coast, one listening to music and the other looking out of the window at the passing buildings. After about an hour and one train change later, the train slows to a stop.

After packing up his iPod, Yuuri stands up, raising his arms in the air and stretches his legs after sitting for so long. Gwendal catches a glimpse of the teen's lower stomach and flushes when he realizes how low the shorts actually ride on Yuuri's hips.

"Come on, Gwendal. Can't you smell the ocean from here?" Yuuri steps off the train, taking a deep breath or fresh ocean water. Gwendal absently follows Yuuri off the train, nearly running into the back of him when he suddenly stops.

"I think we should buy a few snacks on the way to the beach so we don't have to leave to eat." Nodding, Gwendal waits for the younger man to continue walking.

Yuuri takes Gwendal's nod as a sign to continue with whatever they have to do to get to the beach. In his mind, he starts to wonder if maybe he looks a bit crazy having a conversation with someone who doesn't talk.


	9. Chapter 9

Thanks to everyone who reviews! I really appreciate them. Tell your friends about this story, let the world know! Just kidding 

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They walk from the platform and down the street in relative quietness. Gwendal looks around at the new sights around him; between the people who are dressed in many different styles of clothing to the shops and vendors that line the sidewalk, he almost becomes dizzy from it all. He turns his attention to Yuuri, who's looking around excitedly, also pointedly.

"Aw, I can't find my friend's cart..." Yuuri stands on his tip-toes trying to spot the food cart. Suddenly, he yelps, nearly scaring Gwendal, and runs towards a bright yellow-roofed cart. "Kiyoshi!" A brown-headed boy with hair that reaches to his upper back pokes his head around the cart to see who's calling him; apparently having not seen the source of his name, he goes back to whatever he was doing. Waving his arms like a madman, Yuuri approaches the cart, only to arrive slightly flushed from the run. Gwendal arrives soon after, appreciating his longer legs to get there quicker.

"Kiyoshi!" Yuuri says as he arrives.

The brown-haired man pokes his head around again only to find his friend smiling at him.

"Yuuri!" Kiyoshi jumps off the stool he was sitting on and gives Yuuri a hug, nearly squeezing the breath from the black-haired teen. Releasing the teen from his clutches, Kiyoshi steps back from Yuuri. "What are you doing here? I wasn't expecting to see you until next year. Are you skipping school to come to the beach?"

"Well, yeah, I suppose I am. But I have a good reason though. My friend, Gwendal," Yuuri motions at Gwendal, "is visiting so I thought we could have fun at the beach. I'll go back to school when he leaves or maybe when we don't plan a day of something."

Kiyoshi holds his hand out to the older man. "Well, let me introduce myself since Yuuri can't figure out how to. I'm Kiyoshi. Yuuri and I hang out every summer when he comes to work at his aunt's shop." Gwendal extends his hand in the same manner; Kiyoshi shakes it enthusiastically.

"It's a pleasure."

"So, are you going to surf today when you get a chance to leave?" Yuuri inquires. Kiyoshi releases Gwendal's hand as he turns his attention back to his old friend. "You know you could hang out with us."

"That would be cool. I wonder if I could get off early." Running his hand through his long hair, the teen takes a glance at his watch as he thinks. "My grandfather should be back pretty soon. I'm sure he won't mind if I leave; he knows that I've been bored lately since beach season is winding down. I could make you something to eat if you want to wait for me." Kiyoshi places a hand on Yuuri's forearm of which said teen didn't move away from.

"That would be great!" Turning to Gwendal, Yuuri grins widely. "Gwendal, this place has the best dumplings. I think the only reason I'm friends with this guy is because I stopped here everyday one summer." Gwendal nods a little as he watches the long-haired teen prepare two dumplings.

"So Kiyo, where's Haru?" Yuuri asks leaning against the cart, resting his chin in his hand.

Gwendal sees Kiyoshi visibly stiffen at the name. "Oh, um... he doesn't come around because he got himself a girlfriend, that bastard."

Yuuri looks surprised and then regretful. "I'm sorry."

"Nah, it's okay. He wasn't sure of himself in the first place." Kiyoshi hands the dumplings-on-a-stick to Yuuri, who passes one to Gwendal. "How is it? As good as you remember?"

"This is the taste of summer! It's delicious. I think it may be even better since the last time I had one." Yuuri exclaims.

Gwendal nods his assent.

"So, how about you, Yuuri?"

"What about me?"

"Are you seeing someone?"

Coughing to stall, Yuuri thinks back to the past three years, remembering how he was engaged to Wolfram. Then he thinks back to the past twenty-four hours, thinking of his changing perception of Gwendal. "No."

Gwendal, still eating his dumpling, watches as Kiyoshi's gentle smile turns into a smirk.

"That's unfortunate. You're really cute and have a great body. Girls... and guys should be throwing themselves at you." The tall Mazoku watches as redness begins to creep up Yuuri's neck and bleed into his cheeks.

"Yeah, well, girls don't really care for a guy who can trip on his own feet."

"But guys think it's cute though." Kiyoshi, who is the same height of Yuuri, reaches and ruffles the young king's hair.

"Hey!"

"Kiyoshi, why are you just standing there doing nothing?" comes a voice behind the brown-haired teen.

"Grandfather, Yuuri's visiting." Kiyoshi looks behind and watches as his grandfather approaches the cart holding a small bag of drinks.

"Ah, Yuuri. It's nice to see you again." The old man bows to the teen. Yuuri bows respectfully in return.

"Nice to see you too, Samaru-san. My friend, Gwendal, and I decided to come to the beach while he's in town so we thought we'd stop by." Yuuri introduces the two older men.

Gwendal feels a strange tingling run up his spine as he greets the older gentleman; it's an eerie feeling. In the back of his mind, he knows it's strange that he's at least one hundred years the white-haired man's senior yet he looks young. Humans are terrifying creatures.

"Grandfather, may I leave to hang out with Yuuri and Gwendal. It's been a bit slow."

"Sure. Be safe." Kiyoshi cheers as he glomps Yuuri in rejoicing. "Have fun boys."

Kiyoshi takes off his apron and gives it to his grandfather as he pulls his pack from underneath the counter. Gwendal notices that he wears similar clothes to Yuuri: he's wearing a yellow t-shirt that barely reaches the top hem of his blue and yellow board shorts. On his feet, he wears sneakers unlike Yuuri's flip-flops.

"Shall we go?" Kiyoshi asks.

"Yep. Oh yeah, what do I owe you for the dumplings?"

"Nothing. It's on the house."

"Thanks."

The trio set off to the beach. Yuuri and Kiyoshi catch up on what's been going on in their lives as Gwendal continues to look around, soaking up the environment and sights. Ever so often, Yuuri looks up at Gwendal and watches as the taller man look like a tourist. He smiles to himself as the thought that Gwendal looks kind of handsome like that. His eyes widen at the ridiculousness of that thought. Yuuri, Maou of New Makoku, doesn't think men are handsome, does he?

"Yuuri!" said teen snaps out of his reverie to find Kiyoshi mere inches from his face.

"Huh?"

"Dude, are you okay? You just spaced out and then started blushing. Were you thinking ecchi thoughts about me?"

Yuuri scowls his friend, pushing his shoulder playfully. "No!"

"What? I'm not hot enough for you to fantasize about me?"

"That's not it..."

Kiyoshi steps close to Yuuri, their chests nearly touching, and whispers hotly in his ear, "Were you fantasizing about Gwendal then?"

Yuuri feels his blush return full force, enough to make him sweat. "No! I wasn't having ecchi thoughts. Get your mind out of the gutter!"

"Hey now! I'm just kidding. Calm down." Kiyoshi steps back punching Yuuri in the arm playfully with a smirk on his face. "Wow, I don't think I knew you freaked out easily."

"W-What? I don't freak out easily."

"See you're doing it again", teases the brown-haired teen, chuckling as he watches his friend get flustered and agitated.

"Shut up! Come on Gwendal. Let's leave this idiot." Gwendal looks from Yuuri to Kiyoshi, unsure of how to react. He knows that he must obey what Yuuri says, however it would seem there would be an injustice to the other teen.

Yuuri makes the decision for Gwendal when he walks away into the store that they stopped in front of; Gwendal stands still as he watches his king storm away. Kiyoshi cracks up as soon as the door closes behind his friend.

"He never changes! He's so fun to mess with." Kiyoshi doubles over, holding his stomach as he laughs.

Gwendal stares uninterested at the brown-haired man, waiting for the mirthful laughter to draw to an end. After a few more moments of laughter, Kiyoshi finally stops, wiping his eyes.

"Isn't he the cutest thing? Always flustered and embarrassed about something. It makes me want him." Kiyoshi speaks softly under his breath.

Gwendal gazes calculatingly at the younger teen. It's apparent that Kiyoshi really likes or is possibly in love with Yuuri, but Yuuri doesn't know that and he's also unsure of his orientation. Gwendal stands as he looks at Kiyoshi looking at him. They sort of, just stare at each other, the brown-haired teen sizing up Gwendal and Gwendal trying to grasp the situation.

After a few minutes of tense silence, Yuuri comes through the door holding a bag of snacks and other various items. Kiyoshi immediately snaps his attention to the black-haired king by hugging him from behind, wrapping his arms around his shoulders.

"Yuuri, are you still mad at me?" Kiyoshi pouts cutely and nuzzles Yuuri's neck.

"Maybe." Yuuri turns his nose up and away from Kiyoshi. Well, that is, until Kiyoshi licks his neck.

The black-eyed king jumps from his friend's embrace, wiping at his neck furiously. "GAHHH! What was that! Did you just lick my neck?"

"Who knows." Kiyoshi smirks, flipping his hair over his shoulder.

"Why you..." Yuuri lunges at Kiyoshi but is stopped short by Gwendal, who glares down at him as if saying 'stop the horseplay, its not very becoming of a king'. Looking up at Kiyoshi, Yuuri growls, "You were lucky this time." Standing up straight and straightening his clothes, he looks apologetically at Gwendal.

"Aw, come on Gwendal, we were just playing." Gwendal snaps his glare to Kiyoshi, making him cower behind Yuuri. "Ok."

Yuuri just laughs because he knows its Gwendal's personality to glare at someone being childish, but it's even funnier that Kiyoshi is hiding behind him because of that glare. Shaking his head, Yuuri smiles to himself as he starts walking. "Come on, let's go to the beach."

Gwendal walks side by side with the younger man while Kiyoshi skips ahead and walks backwards in front of Yuuri.

"So, how is school going for you? Did you get into your first college of choice? What did you choose as a major?"

"School's fine. I did get into my university of choice, Tokyo University; I'm studying political science with a minor in business."

"Wow, I wouldn't have pinned you for a political type."

"Well, with the sort of job I've had in the past three years, I've done really well so far. In all actuality, I have Gwendal and his brothers to thank for my success in school."

"Why Gwendal? What kind of job?"

"Well, I'm not sure how to describe it. I would equate it to... running a small country. Gwendal's brother, Konrad, is the one who got me started, but Gwendal is the one who taught me about the politics of the business. His friend, Gunter, taught me everything else about my job. Wolfram, who's my age, is a good friend of mine, also Gwendal's youngest brother."

"Wow! You sound like an important figure in the company. How did you get to that job?"

"It must have been fate." Yuuri says wistfully. Taking a larger sniff of the air, Yuuri cries his happiness, "Ahhh! I can smell the beach."

Gwendal quirks a corner of his lip into a half smile at the fact that Yuuri is grateful and happy with his role as king.

Soon the trio steps onto the not so crowded beach and looks for an empty spot where they can't be bothered by little kids. As Yuuri and Gwendal lay out the blanket, Kiyoshi rummages through the small bag of groceries.

"Hey, there are only two bentos in here. Where's mine?" Kiyoshi inquires.

"Do you remember when you were teasing me in front of the store?"

The brown-haired boy deflates as he realizes this is Yuuri revenge for his teasing earlier. "Aw, so mean."

"Don't worry; I brought some extra rice balls my mom made before she left. Honestly, I didn't get you a bento mostly because I figured you could use your own well-earned money and buy one yourself."

"Oh... stingy", he mutters under his breath.

Yuuri turns towards him with narrowed eyes. "Did you say something?"

"Nope, not at all."

"Okay." Yuuri flops onto the blanket, laying on his back and sighing. "Man, this is what I call relaxation." He crosses his arms behind his head as he crosses his feet. "Go ahead and sit, Gwendal."

Gwendal gently sits with his knees bent on the blanket beside Yuuri, looking out towards the ocean. Even though this is all new to him, he feels at ease in this world, especially when Yuuri is nearby. He looks over at Yuuri with a small smile playing on his lips, appreciating what the king is doing for him.

"Aaah! This is what the beach is all about, lying out in the sun with friends!" Yuuri stretches his taller body, much like a cat would when waking up. "Work and school can take a lot out of you. Don't you agree, Gwendal?"

"Yes."

Kiyoshi, who had been digging through the bag of food, suddenly stands up, stripping off his shirt in the process.

"Yuuri, let's go into the water!"

Yuuri looks up at his not-very-bright friend. "No, the water's cold."

"No, it isn't. See, look out there." Kiyoshi points some surfers riding the waves. "They don't think it's cold."

"They can't fell it because of their body suits. You can go see for yourself, just make sure you get a running start." Yuuri smiles deviously at his friend.

Kiyoshi didn't miss the hint of sarcasm laced in Yuuri's words. "Yeah, well, when I'm splashing and having fun in the water, you'll be stuck out here."

"That's okay. I have Gwendal to entertain me."

Kiyoshi gives a lecherous grin to the black-haired teen before speaking again, an action that didn't get past Yuuri. "What kind of entertainment, hm?"

"Not that kind, you pervert!" Yuuri jumps up and lunges at the brown-haired boy. Kiyoshi dodges the lunge and runs straight into the water before diving under. Yuuri lies back down on the blanket, frowning slightly.

"Are you okay?" Gwendal asks Yuuri.

"I see he's very energetic today. Man, I wish he wouldn't tease me like that. It's confusing."

"What's confusing?"

"Um, nothing really." Yuuri watches as his friend resurfaces and walks out of the water dripping wet. In all actuality, Yuuri thinks Kiyoshi has a pretty nice body: it's somewhat muscular, tan, smooth, silky, smooth hair, pretty eyes... The king shakes his head as he realizes he's staring at his hot friend.

Gwendal doesn't miss Yuuri's goggling of the other male. It just made him even more confused as to what is causing Yuuri's confusion. His thoughts stop as he sees Kiyoshi straddle Yuuri, sitting on his hips, causing the young king yelp and try to push him off.

"You know Yuuri, the water really isn't all that cold; maybe at first, but you'll get use to it."

"Get off of me! You're getting me wet!" Yuuri pushes at his friend's shoulders, writhing in discomfort beneath him. "Come on, Kiyo!"

Smirking, the other teen leans over the struggling one, their noses almost touching. Yuuri freezes his struggling as he feels the warm breath ghosting over his lips and cheeks, not even taking notice to the fact that their bodies, groins included, are flush against each other.

"W-what are you doing!" He screeches at the other boy, a blush overriding his command to stay down.

"But I thought you wanted me like this by the way you were staring at me when I was walking back here." Kiyoshi shifts his legs slightly, causing their groins to rub together.

Yuuri's eyes nearly pop out of their sockets as he bites his bottom lip. _That was a really strange sensation. Almost...good? _With that last thought, Yuuri renews his struggling only to find the more he moves, the more he feels the sensations spark things in his body he's never felt. He stops moving and looks up into Kiyoshi's eyes, seeing a hint of lust, but mostly amusement.

Yuuri's anger flares exponentially when he sees that this is a joke, a really sick joke, with him as the punch line. Using all the strength he can muster along with strength he never knew he had, he shoves Kiyoshi off of him, throwing him onto the sand. Standing up, Yuuri shoots a death glare at the boy.

Gwendal's a bit surprised at the strength Yuuri showed when he thrust the teen off of him. Had he realized that Yuuri wasn't necessarily playing like Kiyoshi was, he would have stopped him. The tall Mazoku glares at Kiyoshi as the younger man's expression changes from one of naughtiness to one of guilt and apology.

"Yuuri... I..." Yuuri silences Kiyoshi with another angry glare.

Gwendal can see that Yuuri is very angry and tense by his body language; his hands are clenched into shaking fists, his jaw is tight, and his teeth are grinding. Gwendal doesn't think he has seen Yuuri so furious, especially without the king turning into the Maou.

"What the hell!"

"I'm sor—" Kiyoshi begins.

"Why did you do that?"

"I don't know."

"Did you think that if you rubbed yourself on me that it would bring some great epiphany upon me that I'm gay or something?"

"That's not it!"

"Then what is it?"

"It was a joke. I just didn't think you'd have the reaction you did."

Yuuri's anger rapidly dissipates as he finds out that it was just a simple joke, not a lewd mocking of his indecision. With his glare softening, Yuuri turns and looks out at the ocean, looking moderately guilty and slightly stressed.

"Just... don't do that to me, please. I've had a hard enough time for the past three years with that kind of stuff."

"Dude, I'm sorry. I won't do it again." Kiyoshi looks up at the young king with an expression of genuine apology.

"No, I'm the one that should be apologizing. I was rude to you for no reason." Yuuri bows to his friend with respect. Kiyoshi waves him off, his smile coming back to his face.

"It's okay. I kind of deserved it. Sometimes I can be an idiot."

"Sometimes?" Yuuri straightens and shoots Kiyoshi a mischievous grin.

"Did you say something?" He says flatly.

"No, no I didn't."

"Good."

As Gwendal watched the exchange between the boys, he saw how Yuuri is such a fair and understanding person and how that can be beneficial for a country.

"Hey look, a couple of guys are playing volleyball over there." Kiyoshi points down the beach to a high net and people volleying a ball over the net. "Maybe we could ask if we could play with them."

"That's a good idea! I said I would teach you beach volleyball, right Gwendal?"

"Yes, Yuuri."

Kiyoshi hops to his feet, brushing off the said that got on his clothes. "I'll go ask them first, you wait right here."

With a nod, Kiyoshi sprints off towards the net.


End file.
